The Games Arc – Part 3

Please Insert More Lives to Continue.

Lydia felt like she had slept for three days. She was famished. As she headed for the kitchen, she smelled food cooking. It smelled really good. Cooking food, who was in her apartment? It was probably Maxwell, he was taking care of her last time, though she vaguely remembered something about Brian wanting to take care of her? That’s silly she’d never have let him in here. “Maxwell? Is that you? I’m going to change and get a shower. I reek.” She yelled.

In the kitchen, Brian blinked a few times. Who was Maxwell? Did Mouse… He pushed that name from his mind. Her friends called her Lydia, her very strange friends. His train of thought got back on track. Did she have a boyfriend already? Brian sighed softly as he gently flipped the omelet he’d been making. Mouse had to be starving. He began to fry some sausage links he had bought from the butcher this morning.

Every time Brian had come in to check on her, she seemed barely aware of his presence. He’d wake Lydia up, just long enough to make her eat, and then let her sleep again. He’d borrowed the keys to her apartment that first night. He wasn’t going to leave her door unlocked, but he needed a way to get back in. Brian really hoped she wouldn’t be too upset.

Maxwell had probably been taking care of me, Lydia tried to convince herself. Though she kept dreaming she saw Brian feeding her, and that he had carried her to bed. She wasn’t quite certain how she felt about that idea, it was both creepy and sweet at the same time. Lydia toweled off her hair, and pulled out a clean white t-shirt and black sweat pants, as well as some black socks. It was cold in the apartment today. She quickly got dressed, as the smell of food beckoned her to the kitchen.

Walking out of her bedroom, Lydia was absorbed in thought again. Why had she been dreaming about Brian? He seemed like such an unlikely person to dream about. She remembered him running into the trio when Amy and Lydia had been struggling to get a barely conscious Anna inside the apartment. They had left her alone with Brian. Amy was going to pay for that. Most everything else after that was a blur.

Sleep had done wonders for Lydia. She felt refreshed. Maybe she could go to the lab today after breakfast. If Maxwell argued with her about it, she’d promise to pack food, and to set an alarm so she’d come home at a reasonable time. Mouse barely looked up in time to avoid running into a larger man, who was carrying plates of food to the table. Maxwell wasn’t that big. She looked up wide-eyed to see Brian towering over her.

“Morning sleeping beauty, feeling better?” Brian asked cheerfully. He was thrilled to see Lydia up and about.

All she could do was stand there stunned for a moment. What was Brian doing in her apartment? “How… how did you get in here? I-I’ll call security.”

Brian sighed again as he looked down at the trembling Mouse. She was showing her teeth again. “You don’t remember do you? I’m not surprised. You were so out of it that night. Sit down and eat, and I’ll explain everything.”

Food was taking precedence over everything. Besides she was pretty sure Brian wouldn’t hurt her. Most people who intended you ill will didn’t cook you breakfast and let you run loose. Lydia’s stomach assured her she could think better if it was full. Brian began to fill her in on how he had run into Amy, Anna, and her that night as he was going out for take out. Being a doctor he insisted on examining their wounds only to discover they were mostly healed. Brian mentioned he still wanted an explanation as to how that had happened. He also told Lydia that she had shown him a Mouse-bot and revealed her past about being Mouse.

The fork fell from Lydia’s hand with a noisy clatter. “I did WHAT?” There was no way she had told Brian that! There was no way he could know. But he did, and Amy and Anna wouldn’t have told him. “Maxwell put you up to this didn’t he? It’s his twisted way of punishing me for pushing my body so hard isn’t it? I’m not… Mouse…” her words trailed.

Maybe the statement wasn’t entirely a lie anymore. When was the last time she’d broken into anything or even tested a security system? Certainly not since Maxwell had drug her kicking and screaming out of the lab, and made her take on that position of CEO of Mouse Electronics. Sure she was mostly just a figurehead. Someone the media could be distracted with while Maxwell did whatever it was he did. She was Lydia Thompson the elusive CEO of Mouse Industries, the fasting growing electronics and security firm in North America, even if she didn’t want to be. Her head fell into her hands. “I’m… not Mouse.” She repeated, sounding as if she’d lost a loved one.

Knowing what to say at a time like this, it wasn’t something Brian was good at. He’d gone through girlfriend after girlfriend because he didn’t know how to comfort them. “You don’t have to be. Mouse is a name that was given to a teenaged girl a long time ago. That girl was made to do a lot of things and only she knows if she really liked doing it or not. You are, who you are Lydia. A name doesn’t change that.”

Shaking her head rapidly without looking up or lifting it from her hands, Lydia felt warm tears running down her cheeks. “You don’t understand. No one does. Mouse is… was… I don’t know. She was a part of me. A part, that’s gone. Maxwell made me become honest. But I was already. He made me be something I wasn’t. I’m not a CEO. I don’t know how to run a business. I don’t even like wearing dresses. Or do I? I don’t even know what I like anymore.”

“You’re right, Lydia. I don’t understand.” Brian began softly. “But I see every bit of the stories, and legends I’ve heard about Mouse, right here, in front of me. In you, you’ve not even hidden her that well. She’s not gone. You just forgot she was there, because you were forced to change. I don’t know who Maxwell is, but you can’t let him run your life, Lydia.”

Those words had echoed through her mind so many times. Amy had probably said it at least once. If she hadn’t Lydia was sure Amy would have. “I know… I know.” The tears stopped escaping from her eyes and she just looked depressed down at her food. “You really don’t know who he is? This isn’t some sick joke of his?”

Brian wasn’t certain he liked being referred to as a ‘sick joke’. Had Lydia just been delusional when she smiled at him and told Brian she wanted him to take care of her, ‘as a friend’? “Who is he anyway?”

Leaning back in her chair and letting out an exhausted sigh, Lydia decided she wasn’t in as good of shape as she thought she was. Maybe it was just the exhaustion of finding Brian in her apartment, which she still didn’t have an explanation for. “Maxwell is my father.” Lydia thought she heard a sigh of relief from Brian but chose to ignore it for the moment. Now she was worried. Brian had been practically stalking her since she moved into this place. And he knew she was Mouse. Why would she tell him something like that? “So if he didn’t put you up to it, why exactly are you in my apartment?”

This was another side of Lydia that Brian had never seen. She wasn’t any less timid than normal. This was certainly bravado pushing her to act more confident than she was. But now she was protecting something, herself, her home. She was like a tiny little furry beastie, trying to protect the little nest it had made for itself from something it viewed as a threat. “I was taking care of you. You don’t remember agreeing to let me do you?”

Now that he mentioned it, vague snippets from a conversation that she’d barely been awake for, fluttered through her mind. He was a doctor, and she was damn near dead from exhaustion and beating herself up over what happened that night. She supposed taking a figurative beating wasn’t as painful as the one Anna took, but it was at least something for screwing up as bad as she did. “Vaguely” she muttered. She picked back up her fork, and began to eat, half-heartedly.

Brian wondered why he felt like some guy from one of those documentaries on that science channel that followed animals around. Probably because he was thinking ‘Now more relaxed and no longer seeing the larger animal as much of a threat, the rare tech mouse begins to eat again, though warily.’ He couldn’t help but smile at himself.

Lydia watched him nervously. He was smiling about something. She also vaguely remembered Amy threatening his life if he tried to take advantage of Lydia. At least, she thought she did. Her stomach reminded her it wanted food. The pair fell into an uncomfortable silence again.

He had made such progress with her the other night, and now he was further back than he had started. He was an intruder in her house. There was nothing he could say to make her think any differently about him now. Whatever moment, whatever chance he had with her, it was gone. He finished his breakfast quickly. He knew when he was unwelcome, and he didn’t want to hurt Lydia any more than he had already, by burdening her with his presence. “I’m glad you’re feeling better, Lydia.” he pulled her apartment keys out of his pocket. “I won’t need these anymore. Take care, ok?”

Looking from the keys, back to Brian, Lydia wasn’t certain how to react. He had taken care of her. He didn’t have to. He did it because she had invited him to do so, and because he had wanted to. Lydia wasn’t good at dealing with people, but she knew when she had upset someone. He was walking towards the door, like a once enthusiastic puppy that had been kicked just for trying to be friendly and play.

“Brian, wait.” She looked down at the floor. Nervously Lydia spoke again. “Thank you. You… didn’t have to take care of me and I know I… I’ve been distant. I’m not… well… people scare me. People have hurt me since… well… for a very long time. Alex and Vicki were the first people I ever trusted since… dad died.” She was rambling. “Anna and Amy, they’re the only friends I have in the world, and I don’t treat them as well as I should. I only met them through Vicki and Alex, and I don’t have Vicki and Alex anymore. And well… you tried so hard for me. Just… thank you…” She scrunched up her mouth, in frustration. She didn’t know what she wanted to say, or how to say it.

The way Lydia was stumbling over her words was comical. He probably would have laughed if she wasn’t trying so hard to express her gratitude and extend friendship. At least, he thought that’s what she was doing. “I thought you said Maxwell was your father.” He prompted. Maybe if he could get her talking. Maybe he’d been wrong. Lydia was confused right now. He could see it in her body language. It was something he’d had to learn as a doctor, because sometimes patients couldn’t explain everything in words.

Twisting her mouth around to the other side, Lydia shook her head. “He… is… sort of… I think.”

Well that certainly wasn’t confusing. Brian wanted to run over and comfort her. If he tried she’d probably hide under the table. In her own, odd little way, she was baring her soul to him again. She was just uncertain of how she should do it. “I’ve taken the week off to take care of you. If you’d like we could make some coffee, and you could start from the top. I’d very much like to hear your story.”

Lydia nodded, “I’d like that.” She said timidly. Now she was back to the Mouse he knew. Brian walked back into the kitchen, cleared the dishes, and started to make some coffee.

Things had been odd at Amy’s house since she had truly hit on Anna. Anna wasn’t quite avoiding her, but all of the sudden she had been interested in that internship at the hospital. Amy sat in her cubicle, staring at the blank report form in front of her. She had joked around with herself about writing an expose about her adventures in the game. She knew it would be a horrible idea.

About then Lisa stuck her head over the top of Amy’s cubicle. “Hey, you look down. I was just about to go to lunch. Want to come with?”

Teasing her boss would make her feel better. “What did everyone else turn you down, so you’re stuck with me?” The joke backfired horribly, as Lisa looked dejected. Maybe everyone had turned her down. Amy immediately regretted it “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean it that way. If you still want my company…?”

Lisa nodded. “I’m sorry, Amy. You just looked so down. I thought you might like to talk. Maxwell said you had free reign to come and go from work as you need to for a while. If you need a few days off again, we could spare you. I could get Alison or Tim to cover some of your stories.”

Great, now she’d made Lisa feel like a jerk for asking at all. “No, if I did that, I’d probably go nuts. Come on, I’ll buy.”

The two women headed to the local deli, where they made some of the best sandwiches and subs in the city. Amy ordered turkey and swiss on wheat, while Lisa got a club sandwich. “You’ve been out of it since Wednesday, Amy. I was surprised you came in at all, you looked so haggard. Are you sure you’re ok to work? It’s ok if you go home early and rest. I promise.”

Maxwell had once saved Lisa from her dismal life, a recent divorce, a failing job where her boss saw her as a sex toy waiting to be snatched rather than a serious reporter, nothing had been right. She’d even been moved down from covering the big stories to human interest. Stuff that would appear on page twenty six, if at all, it was a waste of her talent. Granted his method had been a little unorthodox, but she had been following a lead on a kidnapping, and ran into a detective named Vicki Reynolds who was investigating the same kidnapping.

Captured, and tied to a chair with Vicki at her back, Maxwell had offered her a chance at a new life. All she had to do was never question orders, and she would become editor-in-chief of his newspaper. It was rare he even wanted a story buried, the expose she’d planned to do on Mouse Electronics, for example. Lisa was certain she could prove that Lydia Thompson was really the infamous thief “The Mouse.” Maxwell had ordered it to stop. She wondered why, but figured Lydia was another of Maxwell’s ‘recruits’.

As she sat down across from Amy, Lisa wondered whatever became of Vicki. She doubted Amy would know. Vicki had only mentioned some vague someone that would come save them. Had that someone ever shown up? Maybe Vicki was somewhere out there working for Maxwell too. She’d come across so gruff and unforgiving initially, but when Lisa had been terrified, Vicki had been a pillar of strength, a warm heart existed deep underneath her curmudgeon exterior.

Waving a french fry in front of Lisa’s face, Amy grinned at her. “Daydreaming on me?”

Lisa laughed. When Amy was in a good mood, which was most of the time. She was a joker and the office flirt. “I was just thinking. About a woman I had met before Maxwell got me this job.”

A smirk crossed Amy’s lips “A girlfriend? Were you cheating on me Lisa?”

“Amy!” Lisa almost yelled in a shocked response. The other patrons stared at her a moment before going back to their meals. “See what you did now? You made me embarrass myself. And stop looking at me with that smug little grin. She was not my girlfriend. And you and I have never dated.”

“Not for a lack of trying.” Amy quipped. Lisa turned red as a beet. Amy seemed to have a particular talent for making people blush. “Ok, ok, I’ll behave. Did this woman have a name?” Amy asked as she nibbled on a french fry.

“Yeah, it was Vicki Reynolds.” Lisa blinked as Amy turned pale and dropped her fry. “Did you know her?” Amy said nothing. Lisa had never seen Amy speechless. She didn’t have a joke or some wisecrack. Amy just sat there staring in disbelief.

Finally, Amy recovered. “I… met her once.” She mumbled, and purposely took a bite of her sandwich so she couldn’t talk.

Lisa knew when people were lying to her. She’d been a reporter far too long. “Amy, if you don’t want to talk about it that’s ok, but please, don’t lie to me.”

Closing her eyes, Vicki’s name echoed in her mind. “I had no idea you knew her, Lisa. She was… a friend, once. Until I hurt her so badly, she hated me for the rest of her life.” Amy sighed regretfully. “I tease and I play, but, I will never allow myself to do to someone else what I did to her. It was a wrong and horrible thing to do. She trusted me and I betrayed every ounce of that trust. She was right to hate me.”

That look in Amy’s eyes as she talked about Vicki, it was the same one she had back in the office. “There’s someone else now isn’t there? And you’re in danger of doing it to them?”

Amy chewed on her cheek. Could she really do that to Anna? Seduce her the way she had to Vicki all those years ago? “It’s a similar situation, but, I’ve learned from my mistakes. I hit on… a friend. And now she’s a little uncomfortable with me, and it’s mostly because she doesn’t know how she wants to react.”

Somehow the fact that Amy was bi hadn’t really surprised her. At least, she assumed Amy was bi. She always seemed to be flirting with someone, be it male or female co-workers, but since she always had that little grin on her face it was hard to tell if she was being serious or just being Amy. “She’ll come around, Amy. Just give her time.”

This was Anna she was talking about, the woman who bounced back from everything. Lisa was probably right, Anna just needed time, and space. “You’re probably right. In the meantime, you know, you’re still single.”

Lisa rolled her eyes. “You never stop do you? You know perfectly well I don’t swing that way.” She took a bite of sandwich and almost spit it back out when Amy cooed at her about how she could change that. After almost choking on her food she glared at Amy “Would you stop that? Sheesh, woman, you’re insatiable. No wonder I never eat lunch with you.”

Amy just laughed. “Oh alright, Ms. Killjoy, I’ll behave for now.”

This was going too far. “Amy, seriously, please stop. Most of the women are a little nervous around you, and the guys stare at your butt as you walk past. I know to you, it’s all in fun, but, just please. Not at work. Ok? Promise me.”

It had never occurred to her that she was really that out of control. But she had been a PI before, her secretary had just shrugged it off as the way Amy was, and Vicki had taken to ignoring her. Clients kind of expected it. Amy had two reps, being a flirt, and an amazing detective. If they could handle the former, the latter made it worth the money and potential embarrassment. Amy thought about it solemnly for a moment. “You’re right. It’s disruptive. I’ll stop.” It made sense, now why Anna was so reluctant to commit or not. She was probably a little overwhelmed.

“Thanks for understanding, Amy. I hope things work out with your friend.” Lisa stood “My cell is buzzing. I’ve got to get back to work. Thanks for lunch. We’ll do it again soon ok?”

Amy nodded non-committally Most of Lisa’s words had fallen on deaf ears anyway. She would talk to Anna when she got home. She didn’t want Anna to feel like Amy would… well she had no idea what Anna would feel like Amy might do. But she needed to let Anna know that she was ok, and that no matter what, Amy would always be her friend first.

Amy came home to a dark and silent apartment. It reminded her of when she lived alone. Despite the fact Anna slept all day, it had been nice to have someone to come home to, someone who was happy to see her. Amy hoped she hadn’t ruined that. Otherwise she’d have to get a dog. Dogs were usually happy to see their masters, though it probably wouldn’t be the same. Dogs tended not to be great conversationalists

After kicking off her heels, Amy wandered into the kitchen. Maybe she should stop wearing heels at the office too. Try for a more casual look. Her low cut blouses likely weren’t helping any either. Lisa had made her re-evaluate herself. At least around work, and Anna, she could behave. It wouldn’t deny her who she was, just respect that not everyone appreciated it.

The door opened and Anna walked in, still in her work scrubs. Anna didn’t announce herself, just started to make her way back to her room. “Anna.” Amy called to her back. “Could we talk, once you’re relaxed from your day?”

The sincerity and the softness in Amy’s voice threw Anna off a moment. “Ok, who are you, and what did you do with Amy?”

Amy couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s me, Anna. Should I tell you all the dirty secrets I know about you so you’ll believe me?”

Yeah, that was Amy. “You know perfectly well I don’t have any dirty secrets.” Anna went into her room and closed the door.

Well at least Anna was talking and joking around. It was a start. Amy began cooking dinner. A salad and pasta sounded really good. Amy began washing lettuce and tomatoes as Anna came into the kitchen wearing a long shirt and sweat pants. “What was it you wanted to talk about, Amy?”

That was fast. She had expected Anna to wait at least until after dinner. “About what I said the other day…” Amy tried to phrase this correctly. She didn’t want to upset Anna again. “I was wrong. I know we’ve teased each other about it for while, but, I shouldn’t have pushed so far. I did it too Mouse too. I’ve been hurting a lot of people when I thought I was just playing. I’m really sorry, Anna”

Anna wasn’t so certain now Amy hadn’t been kidnapped by aliens. “Ok seriously, who are you and what did you do with Amy?”

“I’m serious, Anna.” Amy began to slice the tomatoes into wedges. “You didn’t deserve that. Sure, I like you, a lot. Even enough to want to try to have a relationship with you, but, you’re my friend first. If it meant jeopardizing that, then well, I’d rather accept I can’t have you in that way.”

There was a long silence before Anna responded. She was in deep thought. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, Amy. You’ve been a friend when I needed one, taken care of me, let me stay in your apartment, and tried to help me as much as you could. I’d certainly like to repay you someday.” Anna paused again. She tried to say this delicately but the words wouldn’t come to her. She opted for direct, if blunt. “Amy, I care a lot about you, but as a friend. I couldn’t date you any more than I could Mouse. I need that closeness we share, and letting go of that…” She shook her head. “I couldn’t do that, Amy. Please understand. I don’t want to hurt you, but I could never be intimate with you.”

From the first couple of words, Amy had known that was coming. Anna’s tone, the way she struggled with the words. “It’s ok, Anna. I’ll always be close to you. I’ll just try to be more considerate of you.”

This wasn’t what Anna wanted either. “Amy, I want you to be you. This is your home, I lived with you before. I can accept you like to run around without pants on. I like it when we tease each other and flirt playfully back and forth, because before, it never meant anything, even if you did always make me blush. But that is the Amy I’ve come to know, and the one I want as a friend.”

Amy put down her knife and hugged Anna tight. Anna hugged back in turn. “You sure you’re just not saying all that because I had a knife in my hand?”

Anna pushed her roommate away. “Sheesh, Amy. Ruin the moment why don’t you?” She still had to laugh. She had Amy back, and now there wasn’t some uncomfortable rift between them. “I’ll find someone, someday, Amy, on my own terms. I’m just not ready to date. Then again, Mouse found a boyfriend. Do you think they’ve slept together yet?”

Laughing Amy set the pasta to boil before going back to her cutting board. “I doubt it. If I know Mouse, she’ll wake up terrified at the thought she might have and hide from him for a week or more.”

That sounded like Mouse. “I’m glad to have, my Amy back.” Anna smiled at her friend.

She couldn’t help herself. “Aww, but I was so close to having so much more.” Amy’s reward for that statement was to have a potholder thrown at her. “Hey, be nice to my potholders. They never did anything to you.”

Anna considered sticking her tongue out at Amy, but she knew the response. Instead she just acted like she was in a huff, turned her nose up, and walked out of the room. She could hear Amy laughing from the kitchen. “Fine, Ms. Snootybritches. See if you get any dinner.” Amy called after Anna.

Anna knew it was an empty and joking threat. Amy would no sooner let Anna starve than she would take advantage of her friend. It was good to be past all of this without hurting Amy. “I’ll just order pizza then” She yelled back, teasing.

A few days have passed, and an envelope with instructions arrives at a dark warehouse on the edge of town. A man shrouded in a trench coat picked it up and stared at it a moment. He knew what this is, and what it meant. He turned back to another man behind him. “Go check her restraints. You know what happened last time we tried to watch the tape. We were lucky to get the instructions at all. Our contact was smart enough to include a written copy. We might not be so lucky this time.”

The second man nodded and picked up a cattle prod. That woman, no that thing, it only responded to violence and fear. The fact it could talk at all made it more of an abomination. They didn’t know what she was exactly. Only that she took some sort of pill mixed with water and never seemed to eat. He’d taken to shoving a dog dish with the stuff in it, so he didn’t have to get any closer to that beast than he had to. Besides, it wasn’t human. It didn’t deserve to be treated like one.

When that weird guy had left her with them, the two thugs were given instructions on its care. Feed it, keep it in the cage. They had been a team of two and needed three to play. So the weird guy in the mask had given them a monster. Still, that monster single-handedly defeated the other team. But it took the strange guy to track her back down after. She seemed to be able to disappear really easily. It was part of the agreement. He would bring her back when she ran. Because there was no way those two were finding her.

It was called Kat. At least it’s what it called itself. Whatever it was, it slept all day, and only stirred at night. He could see its eyes glowing in the darkness of its room. A snarl told him she was still there. “It’s almost time, you freak. You better not fight us or you’ll get more of this.” He waved the prod at her. It hissed at him. “I’m fucking serious you little freak. You try anything and he’ll come for you.”

He was never sure why, but that threat made her behave. Given the guy in the mask could find that thing, he could probably do other things it didn’t like when it failed to behave. “Yeah she’s secure. She’d have already tried to kill me if she wasn’t.” He hated calling that creature a she. But Tony insisted on it.

Fucking retard, Tony thought to himself. If she was loose we’d both be dead. Tony had at least tried to respect her, though she didn’t seem to like him much more. Then again if he was kept in restraints, humiliated, and poked at with a cattle prod, he wouldn’t so thrilled with his captors either. She might at least be thoughtful enough to kill him quickly. Will, would suffer, a lot. She did seem to calm down when he spoke to her softly, like a human instead of an animal.

He slid the DVD into the player and the screen lit up with the image of the masked person. “Greetings, Team Silent Killers. Your objective tonight will be to steal a DVD containing valuable information from Team Deadly Angels. Leave Kat here. She will be transported to your game site. You will have two hours to complete your mission. Let the games begin.”

Tony shuddered a little every time he saw that creep. Still the money would be good in the end. Better than any hit he’d ever gotten from the boss. He also knew he was getting up there in the years. He couldn’t keep doing hits all his life. That money would be more than enough to retire on, maybe at some nice tropical beach.

Tony had been one of the few that had escaped that crazy Vicki Reynolds woman. She’d tracked down members of Kesler’s organization. One of them had apparently raped Mouse and Vicki was going to kill all of them until she found him. He had thoughts on which sick bastard did it. Tony had never liked that guy. He was out of his gourd. But he was also one of the most effective hit men Kesler had. Probably the only reason Kesler kept that freak around. Kat in there was more human than he was. However Reynolds hadn’t taken anyone out in years. Maybe one of the others finally offed the crazy bitch.

“Get your ass in here, Will. We’ve got to plan.” Tony yelled. As Will came in with a grin on his face, Tony gave him a dark look. “You keep tormenting her and she’s going to kill you. She doesn’t care about the team, and I doubt she even knows about the money. She’s in this because it amuses the contact.”

“How the fuck do you know?” Will retorted.

“I don’t. Now get your ass over here. I heard that the team we’re up against barely made it out alive last time. It should be easy so long as we let Kat handle them and just back her up. Though, I also heard they used some nasty tricks to win so don’t underestimate ‘em. If you happen to see ‘em”

Will just shrugged. “It’s an abandoned office building, should be easy enough. We’re on assault right? We got three ways to enter. We put the crazy thing on the stairs and let her do whatever it is she does. We’ll give her 5 minutes and come up behind her. We shoot anyone still standing and take the disc. Simple.”

If only it were going to be that easy. There was no guarantee that once loose, Kat would follow orders or not just kill them all and run. Especially as pissed as she was at Will right now. He could still hear her hissing and fuming back in her enclosure.” Tony glared at Will again. “The fuck did you do to her to get her so riled up?”

“Just taught the freak some manners.” Will said smugly.

“Fucking idiot. You rile her up before the game and you’re asking for trouble. I’m not gonna stop her if she goes after your throat. I doubt I could. It’s your ass if she goes berserk.” Tony couldn’t believe the audacity of his partner. Kesler recruited this idiot? That was the only reason he’d even agreed to work with Will. He was supposed to be good. Granted he was a crack shot. He’d plugged that guy that had almost taken a crowbar to Tony’s head last game, from 150 feet away no less. Tony owed him, but owing him didn’t count for stupid shit he brought on himself.

Anna frowned after watching the DVD. “Protection duty again? I’m not carrying the disk around this time.” She winced as she though about how when that clown had belted her in the stomach, broke the disc, and rammed a piece of it into her stomach.

Amy shook her head. “No it’s going to be Mouse’s job this time.” Mouse protested but Amy had explained, in this place, it would be easier to guard the former thief since they could all station themselves on the same floor. Mouse could hide in an office, which would do a good job of keeping the gas mostly trapped in the room, thereby eliminating any threats to her. Mouse didn’t like the idea, but it did make sense.

Both teams arrived shortly ahead of time, at opposite sides of the building. “Where the hell is the freak?” Will complained.

“The guy said she would be here. We’ll just take it slow. Give her time, just like we planned. The other team is probably going to hole up, so it’ll be easy for her to dispatch them.” Tony was really tired of Will’s bitching. If he thought he could get away with it, he’d plug the idiot himself. But he owed Will. That blood debt alone kept him from doing what should be done. As soon as it was cleared though, all bets were off.

“The Game will now begin.” A booming voice echoed through the empty streets of the dark, mostly abandoned neighborhood.

Transients and druggies were all that lived here. Even the gangs kept out. Rumors of some unkillable beast that ran the streets kept them away. Amy didn’t much care for this place either to be honest. Mouse didn’t seem to mind so much, but she was obviously being wary. Anna looked downright terrified. Of the three she’d never been in a deteriorating slum before.

They wasted little time in getting to the third floor. It had the most offices, and places to hide. There were old cubicles still up. Amy had looked into the place on the internet. It was a .com that had went under some years ago. Back in the late 90s when the internet burped and a bunch of bubbles popped. This used to be a great neighborhood. But when all the big businesses went under the mom and pop stores lost all their business. The gangs and druggies moved in forcing the stores that were barely hanging on out of business.

Amy took her position behind a cubical wall. She could see a mouse-bot at the door. Mouse only had three active ones left so they positioned one at each door, and put one in the office with her. She and Anna had both been given remotes so they could activate their respective bots when someone came through.

Time seemed to tick past slowly. Amy checked her watch as she shifted uncomfortably. Nothing in the last thirty minutes, what the hell were these guys waiting on? Her answer came all too quickly. There a crash at a window, Mouse’s office filling with purple gas, and then her screaming. Amy poked her head up and a bullet whizzed by her head. Shit. They had guns. She hated guns, and had forbid Vicki from using them. Now she kind of wished she’d let Vicki teach her to shoot. The gunfire had her pinned down, and she couldn’t see where it was coming from, though she had ideas.

Mouse had fallen silent, and Anna was worried, now. Her office had exploded with gas just moments before, and then Anna heard gunshots over near Amy. She didn’t see anyone though. She had to check on Mouse. Amy could take care of herself, and Anna had better cover to get to Mouse. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the door on her left start to crack open. She dived into another cubicle and directed the bot through the door. She quickly set it off. She heard some coughing then a thud before the door closed again. Good that was one of them.

Making her way quickly towards Mouse’s office, Anna was slowed by having to keep her head down. She had no idea where the third guy was, or what was going on in that office with the second one. Anna had almost reached the office door, when something crashed through it, and leapt at her. Instinct took over. Years ago, Amy had taught her some martial arts. As whatever it was leapt at her, Anna rolled backwards with the pounce. She grabbed its wrists just long enough to keep them out of her face, and then monkey tossed the person attacking her back down the corridor behind her.

Now she was torn between helping Mouse or dealing with this threat. The threat would have to come first. Mouse was still quiet. Anna hoped it was because she was unconscious. The person must not have realized Mouse had the disc, because it wasn’t running and that person was the only one who could have gotten it. As Anna got to her feet, she was startled by what was in front of her. Just long enough to provide another opening.

Tony recognized that purple gas. It was something Mouse used a lot in her robots What the fuck was Mouse doing here? Last he heard Mouse had been with that Reynolds bitch and some rich heiress. Did that mean Reynolds was here too? His head hadn’t been blown off yet, which means if she was, she was occupied elsewhere, probably with Will. A battle of the legendary Reynolds and Will, he’d have paid to see that. Hell he’d have sold tickets and made a fortune.

Whoever he was facing didn’t have a gun. But there was probably one of those infernal Mouse-bots just behind the door. That was Mouse’s style. He couldn’t stay here. It would probably find a way to where he was. They did that too. There was a sudden crash on the other side of the door. Sounded like Kat was loose in there, there had been some old halogen lamps on the 2^nd floor. He could use one to bar the door on this side so they didn’t get out. That would leave Tony guarding the only other exit.

Amy heard a crash on the other side of the room. She peeked over her cube wall. Nothing shot at her. Purple gas was leaking into the room from Mouse’s office. The door wasn’t just open it was off its hinges. What the hell did they have on their team, a moose? Amy didn’t waste the opportunity she had. She ducked and rolled to the next cube and behind it. No gunshots. Either this guy was picking his moment, or something else had him occupied. Either way, it was a lucky break for her.

Rushing towards the office Mouse was in, Amy knew she had to check on her friend. Hopefully, Anna was keeping the moose busy. Purple smoke drifted all around her, and she was thankful for the breather that filtered it out. Now if only Maxwell had given them goggles so they could see through it.

It didn’t take Amy long to find Mouse. The small thief was slumped against the wall. Blood was all over the place. “Mouse…” Amy called softly as her breath quickened and her heart races. Mouse couldn’t be dead. She couldn’t! As Amy got a good look, Mouse was bleeding from the chest, where it looked like something with claws had ripped her open. There were similar claw marks on the walls. Well it wasn’t a moose, but that didn’t make it any less dangerous.

Mouse’s chest was still rising and falling but only barely. She was breathing at least Amy quickly unbuttoned her blouse, and cut it into strips, which she bound Mouse’s wounds with. Modesty could go to hell. Mouse was dying. “ANNA!” She screamed. “Mouse is dying. I need you in here!”

Anna felt something like fire rip through her shoulder. She whirled around to see what it was, but nothing was behind her. Whatever it was it moved fast. Another slash, and Anna’s leg was ripped open to the bone. She screamed in agony as she fell to her knees. She looked frantically around for whatever it was. Her hand went to a taser Mouse had given her. She hoped she could catch whatever it was before it tore her apart.

There was a glimpse of something on her right. Anna whirled and jammed the taser into what she thought she saw coming. The device made contact with soft flesh The thing howled in pain then ran off. Hopefully for the moment it would stay away. She heard Amy screaming for her. Anna staggered to her feet, and limped towards Mouse’s office, her right hand holding the wound on her left shoulder.

“Will! Answer me goddamn it!” Tony had been trying to get Will on his headset for several minutes. The bastard wasn’t answering. Either Mouse or Kat got him. He could hear the girls screaming upstairs. He did not want to be in their shoes right now. He had better find Will. Assuming Mouse had gotten him, if Kat found him, Will was as good as dead.

Tony ran up the stairs where Will had been stationed. Streaks of purple gas floated by and he covered his mouth and nose with a hand. It wouldn’t be much, but at thin as the gas was now, it should be enough to protect him. As he rounded the corner of the landing, his worst fears were confirmed. Kat was kneeling over Will’s body, her mouth and claws red with blood. She hissed menacingly at Tony, as if she was daring him to take her kill.

Putting his hands up where Kat could see them he tried to talk calmly to her. “Kat, I know he hurt you, and God knows he probably deserved whatever you just did to him. But you can finish settling your accounts with him later.” He didn’t say what he was thinking. She probably had already and if she hadn’t he didn’t want to know what else she might do. Her response was to turn to face him. She took a crouched position as if she might pounce any moment, snarling and hissing all the while. Fuck, she was going to kill him. He backed away slowly. “Kat, remember, I was the one that was nice to you?”

Before he could get off another word she leapt and was down on his landing. She was too fucking fast, there was no way Tony could hope to get away or kill her before she killed him. The girl’s eyes glowed. It was terrifying red color, and the malice in her eyes made Tony sure he was going to die next. “You tell Kat, why Kat should not kill you right now.”

Honestly, what could he say to her? The look in her eyes was murderous. “Just make it fast, Kat. I don’t want to die, but, I’m no better than him. I left you chained up in there. Fuck, how am I supposed to convince you Kat? It was me or you. And I tried to save my own ass. I knew when he pissed you off like that you were coming for him.”

Kat swatted at the air in front of him. Blood dripped off her claws. She could smell urine now. “Go. If Kat ever see you again, Kat kill.”

As she watched, the man wasted no time in disappearing down the stairs. Now there was only the other prey. Two were wounded and one of those was probably dead. It was too easy. But in the world of predators and prey, easy did not matter, only the hunter and the hunted. Life and death, these were the things that mattered.

The game was long since over. Kat had seen to that. However the chance she would actually retrieve the DVD was nil. She cared nothing about it. However telling her the game was over would be useless. She would hunt. The hunt was all she knew. If she got her kill and was sated by the time she found them again, maybe they would survive. She didn’t kill for sport only for need, and that may be their saving grace. All there was to do was watch and wait.

Anna stumbled into the room. Her arm and left and right leg were aching so bad she could hardly stand it. Amy was sitting over Mouse, who was slumped against the wall. Mouse’s breathing was shallow. Her chest had been ripped open by claws. Probably from that thing Anna had seen in the hallway. The same one had ripped into her liked greased lightning. “I’ll try to stabilize her, Amy, but it’s the best I can do. The same thing that got ahold of Mouse ripped into me too. You’re gonna have to hold it off, if you can. The taser seemed to at least scare it off.”

Crouching down, Anna put her hands on Mouse’s chest, her breathing synced with Mouse’s, and then she fell over backwards, screaming. Amy had taken a position at the door. She glanced back “Anna?”

Anna could barely catch her breath. “I can’t Amy… power worked, but… I don’t understand …never seen a wound like this. Pure… agony was all I got.”

Great, this was just great. Anna was wounded, Mouse was dying, and she couldn’t call Maxwell because the game wasn’t over. Screw that. Mouse’s life was more important than this game. “Anna, call Maxwell. Get him to evac Mouse.” There was no argument, no discussion. Amy could hear the tones of a cell phone as Anna punched the buttons.

Interesting development, but not unexpected, it wasn’t technically against the rules to allow an outside force to save a teammate’s life, so long as they did not directly interfere in the game. Anna had taken the disc. No harm no foul. Maxwell wasted no time in rescuing his daughter. Mouse would not be playing again, assuming she lived at all. Maxwell had shown no surprise at the wounds. He knew what he was dealing with, and he knew there was nothing he could do for Amy and Anna. He understood the rules.

Amy watched the hallway. “Anna how long do we have?”

The answer wasn’t pleasant. “Enough time for her to rip us both to shreds.” Anna wasn’t very optimistic about their chances. To be frank, if this thing was half as bad as Anna said it was, neither was Amy.

The door at the far end had opened and closed. It was in here. Amy stepped out of the office. “I don’t know who you are. But I don’t want to hurt you.” She called out. Somehow that felt stupid, but she was up trying anything at this point.

It appeared at the opposite end of the row of cubicles from the door it had come in. It wasn’t a proper description anymore. It was a girl, sort of. A feline tail twitched back and forth behind her, and feline ears lay back flat on her head. Her fingers extended into sharp claws and as she hissed at Amy, the detective could see bloody fangs in the thing’s mouth. The cat girl’s once white t-shirt was stained red with blood. Blood dripped from her chin and claws. She sat there in a crouched position, staring with glowing red eyes.

This was the one that guarded the wounded. Kat only smelled two now, no death, just the wounded one, and this one. Where had the other gone? No matter. To escape she must kill these two. It wasn’t their faults. She had no desire to do this. The one she wanted to kill. He was dead now. The one before her, she was alert, ready, and would fight viciously for her life and the life of the one in the room near her. “Kat is sorry. Kat does not want to hurt you. But Kat must. They will not let Kat go, unless Kat kill.” Her voice was remorseful.

Amy frowned. This woman was a professional assassin, and even if she wasn’t, she had the skills of one. Something was wrong though. Her teammates, Amy hadn’t seen them in a while. “Where is your team, Kat? That is your name right?” Amy had to keep her talking. Maybe she could stall Kat until time ran out.

“Kat is Kat.” The girl answered simply. “You do not have shirt. Does Kat not need shirt?”

Amy blinked. Then she remembered she’d cut up her blouse to save Mouse. In all the excitement she’d forgotten she was basically half naked. “I had to tear it up for my friend. The one you hurt.”

The girl looked down, remorseful. “Kat did not want to hurt her. She did nothing to Kat.”

Well at least she wasn’t some sort of crazed killer. Amy had that much. “Kat, where are your teammates?”

Kat’s face scrunched up into a hiss. “Kat does not have teammate. They hurt Kat. Kat kill the one who hurt Kat.”

Lovely, now the girl was pissed. “Ok, Kat, Ok. Let’s calm down. We don’t want to hurt each other Kat. We’re in a game. They’re making us fight. If we wait, they’ll let us both go.”

Cocking her head, Kat tried to understand what the one who would fight back was saying. “Game? This is no game. This is hunt. Kat must hunt. Kat does not need to hunt you for food. So it is wasted hunt. Wasted kill. Kat does not like to waste kills.”

This girl ate humans. Oh this was getting worse and worse by the minute. “Did a man in a mask tell you to hunt?” Amy’s response was an angry hiss. “Ok… so you don’t like him either. That’s a good thing, Kat. We have something in common. My name is Amy. That man, he trapped me and my friend Anna in this hunt. Mouse too. Mouse is the one you hurt.”

The man made them hunt too? They had some sense of predators about them. But now they were guarding territory. Predators that guarded territory and young were the meanest predators of all. Kat would get hurt in this fight. “Amy.” She repeated. “Amy says if Kat waits, Kat does not have to hunt?”

Good, Amy was getting through. “Yes that’s right. If you wait you don’t have to hunt.”

Well this was boring. It was a Mexican standoff with Amy just talking Kat down. It was time to make things interesting. “Deadly Angels. You are down a player.” Amy blinked. Who the hell were the Deadly Angels?

Mouse hadn’t told them apparently. The masked figure decided to inform them. “You, Amy, with Anna, and Mouse are the Deadly Angels. Mouse is no longer able to play. Will you accept a new teammate?”

This couldn’t lead anywhere good. “If I say no?”

The answer was simple. “Then you die.”

Oh well that was wonderful. “Why did you bother to ask the question then? We don’t have a lot choice now do we? Are you going to kill Mouse?”

“Yes or No, Team Deadly Angels.” Patience was not a virtue this evening. Kat had turned on her teammates. Not that this was unexpected. The more sadistic of the two had tormented her into a furious state.

Amy sighed. “I don’t have a lot of choice, so yes. Now answer my question.”

“If Mouse survives on her own, she will not be killed, so long as Team Deadly Angels does not fail.” The voice echoed through the halls.

“I suppose that’s the most encouraging thing I’m going to hear out of you. Who is our new teammate?” Amy grumbled

This was going to be fun. “You’re looking at her.”

Turning her head Amy looked back at Kat. “Oh no. You have to be…” Amy stopped. Good sense took over. Suggesting in front of Kat that she didn’t want Kat would probably get her killed. “Ok. We accept so long as she does.”

Kat hissed angrily. “Kat not be chained up!” She leapt at Amy before Amy could even react and had her pinned to the ground, while sitting on Amy’s chest. In doing so she knocked the wind out of the detective. “Kat kill before Kat be chained.”

Terror swept through Amy like wildfire. Her breathing came rapidly in short pants, as she tried to catch her breath. “Chain you… up? Why… would I… do that?”

Amy coughed as she tired to breathe. “I… can’t… breathe. Please… get… off… me.” The words came in short pants and just speaking made Amy’s lungs burn.

“Swear to Kat!” Kat glared down at Amy with murderous eyes. “Swear to Kat. No chains.”

Amy nodded. She didn’t have a voice anymore. “Kat get off her. She can’t breathe” Anna stood, leaning in the doorway. “We won’t chain you up.”

Oh this was going to get very interesting. “There is a condition. Kat will stay at your residence, Amy. It makes less work than having to visit two places to deliver rewards.”

Kat hopped off Amy, and Amy began to take in huge breaths. “Amy, are you ok? I mean relatively speaking.”

Waving at Anna that she was ok, Amy struggled to catch her breath. Her lungs were demanding oxygen. Once she had her breath, Amy sighed. “I guess we have another house guest. She can stay in Jennifer’s old room.”

Kat crouched next to Anna, and sniffed at her leg. “Kat heal.” She said simply than began to lick Anna’s leg.

Anna felt shivers of disgust run their course up her body. “Umm… Is that… really necessary?” Her leg felt better though. Great now they had some sort of feral-cat girl that healed by licking people.

“Kat is sorry. Kat hurt, Kat can fix. Only what Kat does can Kat fix.” Kat looked up at Anna. The eyes that had been murderous just moments before now looked remorseful.

“Maybe we should take her to see Mouse.” Anna suggested.

Kat shook her head. “Too long, Mouse, is too far away from Kat. Kat has to heal quickly.”

Uninvited, but announced by a flash of light, Maxwell appeared. “I assume your game is over for tonight. Let them go. I’ll teach them how to care for this new teammate you so graciously bestowed on them.”

The voice boomed again. “It is. You have won Deadly Angels.”

“I’m really starting to hate that guy.” Anna muttered

Amy teased “Just starting? I mean you’ve only gotten the crap beat out of you, what twice now?’ She sighed and looked at Maxwell. “I assume because you’re here, Mouse is going to survive?”

The look he gave Amy wasn’t very reassuring. “She’s stabilized. Brian is with her, but she’s fading in and out of consciousness. But she should pull through. Now about your new friend there,” He handed Amy a small box. “Put the pills inside in a glass of water, and give it to her once a night.” He turned to Kat. “I know you don’t want to hurt your new teammates, so drink that.”

Eyes looked up at Maxwell, but he wasn’t convinced she understood. “Kat will drink.” It was her simple response.

“I suppose that’s something. Board up the windows of the room. She’s nocturnal and doesn’t like light.”

Amy shook her head. “You make it sound like she’s a vampire.”

“That’s because she practically is.” Maxwell said flatly.

Anna wanted to be shocked. But with everything she’d seen, super technologies, psychics, why the hell shouldn’t there be vampire cat… girls… this was getting ridiculous. “What next, are we going to suddenly all get huge eyes and start having teardrops form on our heads? It’s getting to be like a bad soap opera. Thieves, Escape Artists, Psychics, Engineers that make super gadgets, now… vampire cat-girls.”

“You forgot private detectives” Amy teased.

Anna just scowled at her. “You’re not helping you know.”

Maxwell smiled “There are more things in heaven and earth than you ever imagined, my dear niece. However Kat is not a vampire. She’s genetically engineered. It seemed she developed more feline traits than they had imagined she would.”

Anna wanted to yell ‘since when have I been your dear niece.’ But she held her tongue. “Is there anything else we should know about our Mogwai?”

“Actually yes, you’ve already seen she has retractable teeth and claws. Her speed is far greater than any humans. And she can disappear and reappear at will, can’t you Kat?” Kat nodded.

Lovely, what else would that killing machine do. Amy looked at Maxwell “So basically we have a carnivorous ninja road runner?”

Kat was getting tired of being called strange things. “Kat is Kat.” She said simply but forcefully.

“Oh one more thing, hide your TV from her.” Maxwell was gone before either of them could ask why.

Anna looked at Amy. She started to say something, and then just stopped. “My shoulder still hurts. Let’s just go home.”

“Ok, Kat, do you know what a car is?” Amy asked her. Kat nodded. “Well thank God for small favors.”

“Kat know many things.” She said proudly.

“She is kind of cute.” Amy said as she poked Anna in the good shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll like her once you get done being mad at her for clawing you.”

Anna closed her eyes. “Cute like a bear trap.”

“I’d watch it. She probably understands more of what you’re saying than she lets on, you know.” Amy glanced at Kat. She was rather surprised when Kat got up on two legs to walk. For some reason she expected her to be on all fours. “So you are more human than you let on. I knew you were a clever girl.”

Kat liked this one, Amy. Amy was kind to her. The other, Anna, She didn’t think Anna would hurt her. Anna was just upset. Kat got upset when she was hurt too. “Kat did not want to hurt you, or the Anna.”

Anna’s solemn voice replied. “I know, Kat. You were hunting. You did what hunters do. I wish things could be so direct for me too.” Anna looked at the ground. The warm rush of blood had stopped leaking out of her shoulder. Cutting a section of her shirt and making a quick tourniquet had seen to that. They were going to have to stop getting the crap kicked out of them or start wearing old clothes. At least the 30 grand would cover new clothes.

Kat wanted to be pleased about her kills. But hearing the pain in Anna’s voice did not make her happy. For the first time, Kat considered maybe there was something more than predators and prey. There was pack, but packs were for wolves. Kat was not a wolf. No, Amy and Anna did not treat each other as Alpha and Beta. They were something different. Kat wanted to learn about this new thing. She did not know what it was. But it was good.

“Come on Anna, we have to make our new guest comfortable.” The three of them headed to the car.

As Amy drove home, she decided it was time to learn as much about Kat as the girl would be willing to tell her. “Kat, what do you like to eat?”

Kat considered this. She had only been given the bowls with the strange tasting water in it. The blood had tasted good though. It was warm and salty “Kat like blood.”

Amy almost swerved off the road. The answer shouldn’t have been so starling, but maybe it was just the creepiness factor. Or the fact she sounded so cheerful. “Umm, yeah. Umm Kat sweetie, we don’t eat blood. That’s umm… well it’s just not acceptable in our world. Have you eaten anything else?”

Kat shook her head. “Just strange tasting water stuff they give Kat.”

Amy glanced at Anna who was no less squeamish about the concept than she was. Fresh and bloody meat at that would probably be all she had ever eaten, assuming she ate meat. “Anna, Maxwell forgot to tell us what she eats. I’m not feeding her humans. Could you find out?”

Anna nodded, as Amy continued to question Kat. “How old are you Kat?”

This question confused her. Kat was just there. She did not know old or really understand the concept of keeping track of how long one had lived. “Kat does not know old.”

Maybe she should just start by having Kat tell her what she did know. Maybe another angle “Umm, Maxwell said you didn’t like TVs. Why don’t you like them, Kat?”

Kat stared at her blankly.

“Umm… box, with moving pictures.” Amy tried more simplified terms.

Suddenly Kat hissed. “Demon Box! Demon Box try steal Kat’s soul”

Yes, that was just what Amy needed, an agitated feral girl in her backseat. “Ok, ok Kat, calm down. We won’t let the demon box steal your soul. How do you know it does this anyway?” Amy knew she was going to regret this, but maybe if she could get Kat to explain.

“Kat see human. They sit and stare. They no move. Demon Box is predator. Kat no let predator take Kat soul.” Kat was less agitated now.

Ok, it was an interesting form of logic. Amy could see how Kat could make that conclusion. “Ok, we’ll talk about that later.”

Anna looked at Amy “Well Maxwell says aside from the pills, Kat doesn’t really eat anything. They’re nutrient pills. But he says she should be able to eat normally, if we wanted to try her on real food. But we’re still to give her the pills.”

Pretty certain now that hooded freak had given them Kat to further enjoy tormenting them, Amy sighed. “Ok we’ll make the best of it. Let’s prepare Kat’s room and then we can all get some sleep.” A hot shower and sleep sounded ideal.

It only took them a few minutes to put some old towels over the windows. Kat hopped up on the bed in the center of the room, sniffed around, and then curled up. Anna was more than happy to get away from Kat. “Well, she seems to like it. You might want to consider getting her some new clothes. I have work tomorrow.” Anna didn’t feel up to work, but the less time she had to spend around Kat, the better. She didn’t trust that feral cat girl thing. As Anna closed her door she locked it behind her. She doubted it would matter. If Kat wanted in the room, she would get in there. But maybe a locked door would deter her.

Amy wanted Anna disappear into her room, and sighed as Anna locked her door. “She’ll get used to you, Kat. It’s a big change for all of us. The… demon box is sleeping right now. Promise me you won’t try to kill it?”

Kat fidgeted. “As long as it leave Kat alone, Kat leave it alone.”

Well unless the TV turned on by itself Kat shouldn’t destroy it. Amy decided she’d take the remote into her bedroom, just in case. “Ok Kat. Tomorrow we’re going to clean you up, and get you some new clothes.” Now that Kat was in a lighted area, and not trying to kill her, Amy got a better look at the girl.

Kat’s dark brown hair was messy as well as matted and dirty. She didn’t smell much better. Whoever had kept her last probably never got her to take a bath. Kat seemed to follow Amy’s every move with her green eyes. She was a small girl, probably not even 15 by human standards, and she looked to be about 4’8”, and weigh maybe 90 lbs. 90lbs of solid muscle most likely. Despite her slender appearance, Kat was immensely strong. “Ok, one more promise, Kat. Don’t leave the house tonight ok? I know it’s stuffy and boring in here, but tomorrow I’ll take you out, ok?”

Kat nodded. She didn’t want the dark man to come for her anyway. She didn’t like the dark man. One day, she would kill him. The Amy treated her well. The Anna was still mad at Kat. Kat would try to make things better for the Anna. Not tonight though. Tonight she would learn about her new territory.

]]> http://stormwhisper.cybergoddess.net/?feed=rss2&p=21 http://stormwhisper.cybergoddess.net/?p=19 http://stormwhisper.cybergoddess.net/?p=19#comments Mon, 05 May 2008 03:52:34 +0000 stormwhisper http://stormwhisper.cybergoddess.net/?p=19 The Games Arc – Part 2

Round 1… Die!

The rain poured down as Anna and Amy looked hesitantly at the stretch from the car to the stairs to Amy’s apartment. Puddles of water were beginning to form on the slightly uneven parts of the asphalt parking area. “And me without any shoes” Amy muttered. “Well it’s not letting up, and I can put on some soup and hot tea once we get inside.” She smiled at Anna. “Besides we can both use a bath.”

Anna raised her brow. A cold rainwater bath was not exactly her idea of fun. Especially when all she was wearing was a white t-shirt and gym shorts. “I blame you for this, you know.” She teased Amy back. Teasing Amy proved to lighten her mood as she looked out at the unpleasant weather. “Shall we go on three?”

A quick nod and then Amy began the countdown. “One, Two, Three!” Both women opened their respective car doors. As she ran towards the stairs, Amy activated the auto lock and car alarm. By the time they got to the stairs and out of the rain both women were soaked to the bone. Amy shot a sly grin at Anna. “I think you might win the wet T-shirt contest.”

Blushing, Anna covered her chest with both arms. “Only if I’m the only contestant… and the judges are drunk.” She muttered looking down at the ground.

“Come on. Don’t be so hard on yourself, Anna. There’s more to looking good than DD’s you know.” Amy gently nudged the college girl towards the stairs. “We’re gonna catch our death of cold out here. Let’s get inside where it’s warm.”

A few minutes later, Amy and Anna had toweled off and put on fresh clothes. Anna had a long denim blue colored cotton shirt, and Amy had opted for just a normal t-shirt. Anna covered her eyes “Ugh, you’re still doing that? I don’t need to know what color your panties are you know”.

Amy laughed at her shyer friend. “Live a little, Anna. It’s just us girls, and besides I thought this was normal for sorority girls.”

A small grimace came across Anna’s face. “I’m not a sorority girl, you know.” Anna’s eyes moved to something unusual on the couch. Two brown envelopes lay there one labeled ‘Anna’ the other ‘Amy”. “Ummm… Amy. I think someone’s been here.”

Amy walked out of the kitchen where she had been putting on a kettle of water. “What was that now?” She didn’t even have to wait for Anna to repeat herself before her keen senses picked up what wasn’t right with her living room. “Great. Now I get to move again.” She joked. “I really wish these stalkers would quit breaking into my house and leaving me money. I mean it makes me feel like a cheap hooker.” Amy picked up one of the envelopes and thumbed through the money. “Ok, an expensive hooker.”

This wasn’t the least bit amusing to Anna. “Amy, someone’s been in your house.”

Amy shrugged “They at least left a nice tip after breaking into my place.” She tossed the envelope back onto the couch and went back into the kitchen, leaving the pale faced and haunted looking Anna in the living room.

“You’re ok with this?” Anna asked incredulously. “I mean… they broke into here… and…” Anna just blinked as her words fell on deaf ears. Amy worked nonchalantly in the kitchen, cutting up vegetables. Anna finally gave in “You don’t care at all do you?”

A short laugh came from the kitchen, intermixed with the sound of a knife hitting a cutting board as it sliced through a carrot. “It’s not that I don’t care, Anna. It’s just I already know who did it, and there’s not a damn thing we can do about it. So there’s no sense in getting into a tizzy over it. He already had people break in here once. The second time isn’t any more impressive.”

That struck home. Amy was right after all. They had kidnapped her from her apartment, so that meant they already knew where she lived, and had demonstrated they could get in anytime they wanted. They’d gotten Anna off a crowded college campus without being seen. They probably posed as people helping her across campus with her looking drunk. In the dark, anyone who saw them wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a drunk and unconscious person. Anna sighed. She really didn’t like these people. “So now what?”

“Well. I cook us some dinner and then maybe we can find a good movie…” Amy continued slicing vegetables.

Now, Amy was just screwing with her. Anna was really not amused. “You know that isn’t what I meant, Amy!”

Sighing, Amy put down her knife and walked back into the living room. She walked over to Anna, and embraced her tightly. “Anna, I know you’re upset. But there’s nothing we can do right now. In a few days we’ll get our instructions. All we can do for now is play along. I don’t like it either, but there’s no sense in making myself crazy over it.” The sharp whistle of the tea kettle interrupted Amy’s comforting. “Sorry, Anna, the kettle calls, and she doesn’t like to be kept waiting.” Anna watched as Amy twirled back into the kitchen like a graceful dancer. Anna couldn’t help but laugh at her antics.

The drive home from her office was harrowing. The streets were slick. There was little visibility through the heavy rains. Lydia hated driving in weather like this. She should invent an autopilot for her car next, or ask Maxwell if he already had one and just forgotten to tell her. She was relieved when she pulled into the garage of her apartment building.

For one, she could actually see. The apartment’s garage was quite secure. Oh sure, she could be inside in under two minutes. That’s when it occurred to her. If she could do it, why couldn’t this clown who’d had her kidnapped in the first place? All the feelings of relief she had were gone in that instant.

Lydia looked around, paranoid, as she pulled into her parking place. She didn’t see anyone. Maybe she should have a bot out, just in case. Lydia closed her eyes and took deep breaths. She was being stupid. No one was going to be here, that wasn’t supposed to be. Besides sending out mouse-bots would blow her cover. They’d already trapped her, why would they need to kidnap her again? Still, being in her apartment would make her feel a little better. Wincing as click of her heels echoed across the empty parking garage, Lydia felt that little twinge of fear creep up her spine. It was her, the cars, and a big empty space between her and the door.

A car alarm announced that it was turning on with a beep and Lydia about jumped out of her skin. She saw a man. It was one of the guys that lived downstairs. “Wow, you’re more skittish than usual, Lydia.”

She glanced at him then looked at the ground. Trying to sound more confident than she was while hiding that she was trembling from fear, Lydia forced her voice not to sound as scared as she was.. “I’m fine Brian. Really, it’s just been a long day.”

Brian had always been too chivalrous. Like he felt he had some sworn duty to protect this shy little maiden. “You want me to walk you to your apartment, Lydia? It’s on my way.”

For once, Lydia was happy to have him alongside her. If for no other reason than it meant she wasn’t alone in the dark garage. “Umm… sure… yeah… that would be… nice… I think.” She mumbled.

Brian frowned as he approached her. “Are you sure you’re ok? Usually you just run away nervously.” He looked around behind them, as Lydia fell into step with him. “Lydia, you’re shivering.”

Damn, he’d noticed. Now he would pry. She’d spent a night being some wacko’s bait. The last thing she wanted was her downstairs neighbor playing white knight. “It’s just cold out, with the rain and all.” He seemed to accept this answer and didn’t press anymore.

Once they had made it to Lydia’s apartment door, the much taller man put an arm on the doorframe. “You know, if you need anything, I’m right downstairs.”

She so did not need this right now. “Really, it’s ok” Lydia began to fumble through her purse for her keys. She shrank down a little away from him, and quickly opened the door. “I’m… going to go now. Lay down. Umm take care… and umm thanks for seeing me in.” She shut the door after darting in, not waiting for a reply.

Well at least she’d let him walk her to the apartment. It was something he supposed. His buddies had all called him crazy for being attracted to the nervous little CEO of Mouse Electronics. Certainly they all agreed she was an attractive girl, but she skittered under the couch at even the sight of another human being. Brian sighed and walked to the elevator. Something was wrong with her tonight. He was sure of it. She’d come in really late, looked more nervous than usual, and she was not shivering from the cold. Something had her spooked. He clothes were covered in dust and her hair was messy. That wasn’t like her at all.

Still there was nothing he could do about it tonight. Brian pushed the elevator button. As he waited, Brian looked back at Lydia’s apartment door. He wondered what had scared her so badly. The elevator announced its arrival and Brian stepped inside. As the elevator doors closed he had another thought. Does she see me as some sort of stalker?

He did manage to catch her quite often as she came home from work. But that was more because their work hours happened to coincide. Tonight he had just been out with friends and happened to catch her as she came in. It wasn’t like she was going to tell him. Maybe someday he’d get her to agree to coffee and he could get to know the real woman, not the nervous little intern bit she put on. No one was that shy.

Lydia kicked off her heels and made her way towards her bedroom. Maxwell would yell at her for sleeping in her clothes, but she didn’t care. Let the dry cleaner get the wrinkles out. They were coated in a light film of dust anyway. She frowned at herself. Caring about her clothes again? This from the woman who wore the same grease stained electrician’s jumpsuit most every day? She’d said Mouse was going to come back, but really, could she? She’d felt so much less and less like Mouse every day she’d been forced into this new job.

Stumbling wearily into her bedroom, Lydia was greeted by an envelope on her pillow. “Now what have you done, Maxwell?” She mumbled to herself. Picking up the envelope and flipping it over, revealed one word written on the other side in black Sharpie pen. “Mouse.” trembling she dropped the envelope and fought the urge to scream by clapping her hands over her mouth. They had been in here.

Why this would come as such a shock wasn’t real clear to her. Maybe it was just… her train of thought trailed. Was this what the victims of Mouse had felt like? Violated? Terrified? She kicked the envelope away from her. It landed on the carpet a little ways away from her. Damn them. Damn then to Hell. What were they trying to prove? Lydia flopped onto the bed and cried herself to sleep.

Just as Amy had predicted, nothing interesting happened until the instruction envelope arrived. And even that hadn’t been that interesting. Whoever had left it had just dropped it in front of her front door. “Well at least they didn’t break in this time.” She walked in and kicked off her high heels. “Anna, I’m home.” She called. That was probably why they hadn’t come in. Anna had been here all day. They probably didn’t want to be seen.

While she had asked for time off while this game went on, Amy managed to stay home from work about one day. She felt like she was going nuts. There wasn’t anything that exciting around the house to do. TV had never really appealed to her, Anna had been sleeping all day, and she couldn’t immerse herself in a book. So she had called Maxwell, explained that if she needed it, after a fight she would take a day or two off, but she would still continue working. Maxwell said he’d explain things to Lisa in delicate terms.

Amy went into the kitchen to prepare dinner. She’d choked down Anna’s cooking once. She was never doing that again. Apparently cooking wasn’t one of the skills they had taught that girl in the facility. Amy didn’t want to consider what Anna had been eating while she was at college. Work had been boring today away. She had to present the reports of her latest investigative efforts to Lisa. A journalist, Amy was not. She would be lucky to string two sentences together that anyone would want to read. She’d let Lisa make it sound interesting.

Anna came out of her room, yawning. “Hi, Amy” She said sleepily.

“What have you been doing all day, girl? Sleeping?” Amy looked at Anna crossly. “You could at least get a part time job to occupy yourself. I hear they’re looking for interns at the hospital.”

Anna sighed. “You know I can’t drive, Amy.” Amy had been pestering her for the last two days about that internship. It could count as job credits for her graduation requirements. She did still need to get them. “Besides I don’t have a car.”

“No excuse Anna. There’s a bus that drops off in front of the hospital. And it’s only a block away.” That girl and her excuses, sure she’d only been here a few days, but she’d been sleeping all day. Amy didn’t want to see Anna doing nothing. It would just make Anna depressed and crazy worrying about this whole game bit. The internship would get her mind off things.

There was a brown envelope on the coffee table. Anna frowned. “Did they break in again?”

“Not that you’d notice if they did.” Amy scolded. “But no. They left it on the front porch. Maybe they didn’t want to wake you.” Amy sighed. Enough fussing at the poor girl, she’d endured Amy pestering about a getting a job for two days now. “Do what you think is right, Anna. I worry about you. But I’m not going to harass you about it anymore.”

At least they didn’t break in this time. Anna looked at the envelope like it was a bug. “I guess we should call Mouse.”

“After dinner, she’s probably going stir crazy right about now, or buried in her inventing again. She does that. She may not even hear the phone.” Amy frowned at the thought. How were they going to find Mouse to get the plan down if she was hiding herself again?

Brian glanced around the parking garage. Lydia’s car wasn’t here again. He’d not seen her since that day she’d let him actually get close enough to walk her to her apartment. Now he was certain something was wrong. Realistically, what could he do? If he hung out in the garage watching for Lydia, he would be a stalker. Still, he was worried about her. He reasoned Lydia could probably take care of herself, wherever she was. Brian turned and walked inside. As he passed Lydia’s apartment door, he sighed. He wished she’d at least talk to him. Brian pushed the elevator button and waited for it to arrive.

The cell phone was ringing. How long had it been doing that? Lydia looked over from where she’d been drawing schematics and picked it up. Three missed calls, all of them Amy. Was it Tuesday already? She slid the phone open. Maxwell had been trying to her to buy one of those little Blueberry phone things. Something about texting, checking the net, and maybe it made coffee too. She didn’t even want a cell, but it was a necessary evil. How long had it been since she’d been home anyway? Her stomach rumbled reminding her she hadn’t eaten in a while.

“Amy, Mouse is calling” Anna yelled. She listened but there was no answer. She was probably in the shower. “Hi, Mouse” She answered cheerfully.

Lydia hadn’t been expecting Anna to answer. Then again she was living with Amy right now wasn’t she? Maybe, the outside world was so easy to lose track of when Lydia was deeply absorbed in her work. Anna told her that the envelope had arrived. Mouse sighed. She didn’t want to deal with that now. “Tomorrow, Anna? Please?”

Plopping down on the couch, Anna sighed. “You’ve been in your workshop all this time haven’t you? You know that’s not healthy, Mouse.”

Being scolded a little made Lydia miffed. Who was Anna to tell her how to live? Still she had a point. “I’ll go home tonight, Anna. I promise.” Anna made Lydia promise she’d eat too. Lydia hung up the phone and rubbed her forehead. Had it really been two days? She felt so tired, and hungry. Her body didn’t take to these days on end without food anymore. Lydia stood, and the world began to spin. She stumbled backwards, and tripped over her chair. Her head slammed into the design table. There was a sharp pain, then darkness.

Groggily, Lydia opened her eyes. Three Maxwells were standing over her yelling. She closed her eyes again. She didn’t need to hear him to know what he was saying. He was yelling at her about taking care of herself. Everyone was doing that today, even if they were right.

“…you gave yourself a concussion. You’re lucky Anna and Amy found you…” Maxwell’s voice kept fading in and out. Lydia was kind of glad for that. It meant she didn’t have to hear this lecture on taking care of herself.

Anna and Amy found her? How long had it been? She tried to move but her body protested. She was weak, or was someone holding her down? “How… long?” Lydia struggled with the words.

Anna pushed Maxwell away. “Stop tormenting her. She’s not healed up yet. I’ve had to do this in stages. She was bleeding from that crack on the head you know. She slammed her head into the edge of her table. Her design was covered in blood.” Anna’s voice became softer as she addressed Mouse. “It’s been two days. We have to go tonight. I should be able to get you in fighting form without hurting myself too much.”

A little pressure and some warmth told Lydia Anna was using her powers. Anna collapsed, but Lydia felt a lot better. Maxwell picked Anna up and carried her off. Lydia looked to her right and saw Amy. “Are you going to yell at me too?”

Smiling, Amy shook her head. “No, I think you’ve had enough, Mouse. But I will tell you that you had all of us worried.” Amy took Lydia’s hand in hers.

The hand was warm. “Maxwell isn’t going to let me work anymore is he?” Lydia asked worriedly. “He’s going to put me back behind that desk.”

“I don’t know, Mouse. When you didn’t show up or call by the time I got home from work, Anna was practically climbing the walls she was so upset. You can’t do this to yourself anymore. You’re not eighteen. You’re going to have to start learning to stop losing yourself. If you don’t Maxwell may not let you into your lab again.” Amy looked down into Mouse’s eyes. “You’re too brilliant to be wasted on that company. You’ve got to learn control, Mouse.”

Maxwell came back into the room. “Anna’s recovering but she should be fine shortly. I spared her system the strain and used the auto-medic on her. You don’t have long to plan. You might want to get started.”

Anna was sitting up, her hands wrapped around a mug of herbal tea when Lydia and Amy came into the room. A blanket was draped over her shoulders, and she looked a little pale. When the others looked at her worriedly, Anna waved a hand dismissively. “I’ll be fine. We’ve got work to do.”

A DVD had come in the envelope, along with blueprints. Lydia looked them over. “A miniature golf park? You have to be kidding me. What are we going to do, mount an assault on the castle obstacle?”

Shrugging, Amy put the DVD into Lydia’s player. “I hope this thing doesn’t self destruct in 5 seconds” she joked. She flicked on the TV, and the image of the creep that had kidnapped them appeared on the screen. “Oh look, it’s Slappy McGigglebottoms.” That earned her strange looks from both Anna and Lydia. “What?” Amy asked innocently.

Anna shook her head, she couldn’t help but grin. “I think that is the most disturbed name I have ever heard anyone called.” Lydia just stared at Amy in disbelief.

“Lydia, you need to lighten up.” Amy pointed back at the kitchen. “I made you something to eat. Maxwell has been giving you nutrient shots, but I figured you might like something solid. “I’m certain that clown” She pointed a thumb at the TV being her “Isn’t going to do anything so impressive that you need to watch.”

The thing on the screen began to animate as it spoke from behind its grinning mask. “Good evening ladies. Your first mission is simple. Encoded on this DVD is some special information. Your mission will be to guard it. You will have to protect from the other team it for one hour. Should you fail, you lose the game.”

Amy couldn’t help but make commentary. “Good news, Mouse. Your DVD player isn’t going to explode.”

Somehow that didn’t make Lydia feel any more comfortable with this. Anna seemed to find it funny though. Maybe Amy was right. She couldn’t really recall the last time she had been happy. The food was delicious. Grilled chicken with steamed vegetables. Had she had anything really home-cooked since she had lived with Alex? She tried not to eat too quickly, but her stomach insisted it needed food now.

After Lydia had at least gotten some food in her, Amy spread out the blueprints on the kitchen table. “There’s only one really defendable area, and that’s the office here.” She tapped the only real building on the map. “The problem of course is it’s about as obvious that we’d be hiding there, as is humanly possible. We can use that to our advantage. Maxwell has rigged us some breathers. You can set up Mouse-bots here, here and here.” She tapped several places on the map. “As well as scatter them about the place. Load them with that gas payload we used back at Vivian’s facility.”

The plan sounded solid so far. The gas was designed only to stun so long as someone breathed it. With them not being affected they could restrain their opponents without really hurting them. “Who’s going to have the disc?” Lydia asked.

“I will” Anna piped up. “Amy and I can handle ourselves better in a fight. If you get caught, well, I hate to say it Mouse, but you’re easy to take out once someone gets their hands on you.”

Sadly it was true. Maxwell had been urging her for months to take Martial Arts classes, but she was too terrified of the idea of being in a classroom with a bunch of people. He’d countered that by saying he could get her a private sensei. He knew one that owed him that knew some excellent soft styles, throws, and tying up the opponent, that Lydia could learn. She’d said she’d think about it. Now she wished she had taken the lessons.

The three women nodded as they agreed on the plan. Anna took the disc and slid it into the pocket of the hoodie she was wearing. It declared her a student of the local university. Her jeans wouldn’t lower her mobility, and her tennis shoes gave her traction. At least she was dressing for combat. Amy was wearing a dark sweater and jeans as well. “No dress this time?” Mouse smiled.

That had caught Amy off guard. Mouse was cracking jokes? Amy wasn’t certain if she should roll her eyes, or laugh. Instead she turned it back on Mouse. “If you like…” She cooed “I could go put on something more sensual for you.”

It looked like Mouse was going to dart under the table as her eyes widened and her face paled. She bit her lower lip in her trademark way. Anna moved behind Mouse and touched her shoulder. Mouse jumped with a yelp and banged her knee into the table, then fell out of her chair.

“I thought she was an excellent gymnast? That was about the clumsiest thing I’ve ever seen.” Anna looked disapprovingly at Amy. “You laid it on too thick. Now she’ll never crack a joke again.” Anna helped Mouse back up, “You know she’s shy, Amy.” Anna mumbled under her breath about how she thought Mouse made the small furry variety of mice look brave.

“Well if you two are done trying to scare my daughter to death, your appointment starts in an hour.” Maxwell seemed to have no sense of humor tonight either. Amy wondered what was eating him. Usually he had smart-assed things to say.

He was probably just worried about them, or still irritated with Lydia for damn near killing herself earlier. Anna ushered Mouse out of the apartment, before anything else odd happened. “But I haven’t changed.” She protested. Lydia had been wearing the same dusty and wrinkled clothes for three days now.

“No time for that now. Just put on some flats. You’re not going to need much mobility anyway.” Anna said as she kept pushing Mouse towards the door.

Unable to help but smile at the two’s antics Amy turned to Maxwell. “We’ll bring her back alive. And then she can sleep ‘til next week.” He didn’t seem any more impressed with that. Amy wasn’t really concerned with what the sourpuss was impressed with anyway.

Outside Mouse’s apartment while half dragging Mouse, Anna about ran over Brian. ‘Hi, sorry, excuse us.” Anna called behind her apologetically, not stopping or paying much attention to who she was apologizing to.

“Lydia, wait!” As Brian ran up behind Lydia and Anna, he looked at his neighbor very concernedly. She was wearing the same dirty clothes from three days ago, and now they looked even worse. Lydia herself didn’t look much better. What was going on? “You didn’t introduce me to your friend.” Maybe if her get her involved in conversation he could get something out of her.

Amy pushed past Brian after exiting the apartment. “And she doesn’t have time now. But I’m certain we can all sit down over coffee soon.” She looked back at Brian with a look that said not to press any further.

Lydia waved weakly at Brian. “I’m sorry.” She half-heartedly apologized as Anna kept pulling her along.

Brian watched as the three women walked out to Lydia’s car and then quickly drove off. One had looked like a college girl. Actually both of the other women did. The brunette was kind of rude, even if she was beautiful. He wasn’t so sure about the other one. Lydia didn’t seem too happy to be dragged out, but she also wasn’t protesting, so they must know her. Something was going on. He was determined to find out what now.

The miniature golf place had closed a year ago. It was a little mom and pop run attraction that had lost out to a larger chain that offered an arcade, go-karts, a snack bar, and a number of other appealing features along with miniature golf. The owners had barely made enough to keep up in the first place, but they knew it made the locals happy. Certainly they had kept some of the regulars, but the customers just weren’t coming anymore. When finances started going into the red, they’d been forced to close down.

Now the place was in a state of disrepair, and the recent rains made all the greens gushy. “Well this is a lovely place. Anyone else think we should start saying Jenkies and Zoiks? Maybe we should split up too.” Amy was at her jokes again as they stood outside the giant gate that held the once colorful sign overhead that announced this place as Jerry’s Super-Fun Miniature Golf.

Amy shook her head “I used to know the owners. They were great people. Jerry would give the kids free games sometimes. It’s kinda sad seeing the place like this now. The castle hole was always so hard. That drawbridge liked to pop up just as you’d get the shot off. I always thought Jerry had a remote he used just to torment me. The devious little grins he had every time I missed the shot. No matter how I timed it I always missed that drawbridge. Jerry never did tell me if he was toying with me or not.”

The nostalgic story made Anna and Lydia smile. Anna didn’t really have nostalgia based stories like Amy’s and if Lydia had any she had never mentioned them before. “My dad took me to a place like this a few times back home. The adoptive one, I mean. He tried to get me out of the house. I spent less time playing golf and more time trying to figure out how I would improve the obstacles.” Lydia sighed at the fond memory from so long ago. When the father she grew up with was alive, those had been happier times.

Giggling, Anna nodded at Lydia. “That sounds just like you, Mouse.”

Their moments of memories long past was interrupted by a booming voice. “Welcome teams. You have your objectives. Your time begins now.”

Amy snorted. “Great way to ruin the mood, Slappy McGigglebottoms.”

Anna swatted Amy on the shoulder. “Stop calling him that. It makes me giggle and it’s creepy.”

Instead of laughing at the jokes, Lydia pulled out another glasses case, and switched glasses. “It allows me to see what my Mouse-bots see and control them with verbal commands.” She explained.

Looking at Anna, Amy had an impressed expression on her face. “She’s good. Ya gotta admit it. Crazy, but good. Alright let’s get into place. I doubt that other team is wasting much time.”

Watching from behind the windmill obstacle, one of the three members of the opposite team reported on a headset. “They just went into the office. Its three girls. They look like two college students and some lady who forgot to change out of her work clothes. Should be a cakewalk. On my mark move in.” Something ran into his boot. “Huh?” He looked down in time to see a little silver mouse. He barely had time to curse before purple gas engulfed him and he hit the ground unconscious.

“One’s down” Mouse reported. “Never even saw it coming. I don’t see the other two, but I’ve only got one more Mouse-bot roaming around out there. Give me a moment and I should be able to pinpoint them. I’m gonna assume they know we’re here.” Amy and Anna nodded and moved outside. Amy moved off to the windmill to secure the first thug while Anna kept watch for the others.

She didn’t have to wait long. One of the men got behind her and dropped a double fisted slam right into the back of Anna’s neck that sent her sprawling. “That… hurt, you jerk” She groaned.

“Yeah and this is gonna hurt worse.” He raised a foot to stomp on her, but Anna rolled out of the way.

Quickly she wrapped both hands around his ankle. “Actually, I think you should feel it.” She grinned as the thug looked at her confused.

Then his eyes clouded a little as suddenly his neck began to pulsate with the pain of the blow he’d just delivered to the much smaller girl. “What… the hell are you?” He asked queasily as Anna hopped up and kneed him in the gut.

Grinning as her target staggered forward, Anna mocked “Dangerous.” She clamped her hands together and slammed her fists into his back as he had done to her moments ago. “Once more for good measure.” Now she didn’t feel as bad for beating up the guards so often. It at least gave her practice.

However, she had been so absorbed with taunting the one guy, Anna hadn’t seen the other until it was too late. She barely managed to twist so her shoulder took the baseball bat instead of her head. She cursed as her arm went numb. “I don’t know what you did, you stupid little bitch, but you’re not going to live long enough to do it again.” He swung again catching Anna in the stomach. Anna doubled over with pain as she coughed up blood, and a red spot began to form from the pocket of her hoodie.

After hearing a scuffle outside, Lydia cursed herself for focusing on the roaming Mouse-bot. She knew better, they were going to come to her position. There was no need to hunt for them. Her stupid move was costing Anna. Lydia switched her vision to the ones around the building. Anna was taking a severe beating. She was on the ground, holding her stomach. One guy was struggling to pull himself up, and the other was beating Anna mercilessly with a bat.

“Careful, you idiot…” The beaten thug coughed. “If she’s got the disk and you break it, we lose too.”

That stopped the blows from raining down on her. Anna doubted she could move enough to grab one of them. She was in so much pain, Anna wasn’t even certain she could focus enough to use her power. But when those idiots searched her for the disk, she was damn well going to try.

“A shame she’s all beat up. She looks really cute. I bet we can still have some fun with her after the fight.” The thug with the bat said with a sinister grin as he knelt down.

“Don’t touch her!” The second man coughed but it was too late. Anna opened her eyes and with a dark smile she grabbed the man’s wrist feebly.

“I think you deserve this more than me” She didn’t manage to siphon off much, but it was something. She wasn’t coughing up blood anymore.

The thug stumbled backwards and dropped his bat. “What the hell is she?” His chest ached. It felt like his arm was shattered. But she had barely touched him.

The other one cursed at his partner. “I tried to tell you. I have no idea, but she’s not human.” He pulled out a gun and pointed it at Anna. “She’s not going to be alive much longer either.” The gun fired just as the purple gas engulfed them. Anna screamed as the shot tore through her arm. Her blood was flowing everywhere as the two men fell to the ground.

Rushing over Amy kneeled beside Anna. She had been too occupied with dealing with the one guy, and had just arrived. It looked like Anna had given almost as good as she’d had gotten though. “Shit. Anna you’re hurt bad. You’re going to have to put some of it into me.”

Anna shook her head weakly in protest, but Amy grabbed the wounded woman’s hand. “Don’t argue with me damn it. You’re going to die if you don’t.” It was the most intense pain Amy had ever felt in her life. A shot ripped through her arm. A baseball bat beat her side mercilessly and then she passed out, alongside Anna.

Lydia wasted no time in rushing outside. She looked over the other two. She cut off a piece of her skirt and bandaged Amy’s arm with it. She fought off tears. “I’m so sorry.” Amy had left some rope in the office to bind the men with. Mouse wasted no time in retrieving it and binding the two men’s arms and legs. At least something Marcus taught her would be useful tonight.

As the gas dissipated, the booming voice of the masked figure echoed across the park. “Team Deadly Angels is the winner.”

Putting the question of when exactly they had agreed to call themselves that aside, Lydia called Maxwell on her cell. “Anna and Amy are hurt badly. I don’t think I should move them myself. I need your help.”

A white flash of light a few moments later announced Maxwell’s arrival. “He glanced at the gun and baseball bat. They got careless.”

The tears flowed. Lydia couldn’t fight them anymore. “It was my fault. If I had watched the perimeter instead of searching for the other team, they wouldn’t be” He pulled the fractured DVD out of Anna’s hoodie. “A piece seems to be missing.” He looked at the warm blood on his hand. “Lovely.” He reached inside again and gently, but swiftly pulled the other piece of the DVD out of Anna’s stomach. “I hope you weren’t supposed to keep that intact. I doubt it matters much now.”

Turning to Mouse, Maxwell sighed. “Anna kept herself alive by transferring some of her injuries into Amy, and apparently that clown. But this handheld version of the auto-medic isn’t going to be able to patch them up completely.” He waved the device over Anna’s stomach, and then over Amy’s ribs and arm “They’ll be alright to walk once they regain consciousness. Anna’s lost a lot of blood, but she’ll survive. Amy will have serious bruises, but the broken bones are healed. It’s the most I can do right now.” A little red light blinked on the device, indicating it was low on power.

Rolling over Amy looked up with blurred vision at Lydia. “Never, ever let me do that again. I think I got run down by a truck and then it backed over me a few times.”

Helping her up, Lydia offered softly. “You saved her life. It was my fault. Not hers, if I’d been paying better attention.” Lydia started to tear up again, when Amy silenced her with a finger to Lydia’s lips

“We’ll do better next time. Help me get Anna up. We’ll have to carry her to the car.” Amy grunted as Anna’s weight pushed down on her. “When did she get so heavy? She’s tiny. She can’t possibly weigh more than one-twenty.”

The two women dragged the unconscious Anna back to the car. “You know, we have to stop doing this. One of these days all of us are going to black out, and then a building’s going to fall on us.”

The statement was so random, Lydia had to laugh. After helping to lay Anna down in the back seat, Lydia got behind the wheel, and watched Amy gently slip into the car. Hissing as she sat down. “I’m sorry.” Lydia said meekly.

Was she going to apologize all night? She’d mumbled three more apologies just on the trip to the car, every time, Anna jolted, or Amy or Lydia slipped a little from the wet ground. Those flats probably had no traction whatsoever, it was bound to happen. “Stop already, Mouse. We all should have been on our A games and we got hurt for it. I should have never left Anna alone. It’s all of our faults. Well maybe not Anna’s. She did better than either one of us, and got hurt the most for it.”

The drive home was quiet. As Amy and Lydia got Anna out of the car, she started to wake. “Well, well. Look who came too.” Amy teased. “Did you enjoy your nap sleeping beauty? Or should I kiss you again?”

Kiss? She couldn’t have heard that right. “You… did… what?” She said between heavy breaths. Anna tried to stand on her own, but stumbled. Amy steadied her.

“Oh no. You can’t walk on your own yet, missy. Now be a good girl, and just let us help you along.” Amy scolded gently.

As if the night couldn’t get any worse, Brian walked out into the garage. Lydia wanted to just die on the spot. Brian’s eyes widened as he saw the two women, barely managing to get a blood stained and barely conscious looking third inside. “I’m not accepting ‘nothing’ for an answer this time” He said as he rushed over. “Let me get her.” He insisted, and before either Lydia or Amy could protest, he picked Anna up, holding her like a princess.

“You’re going to tell me what happened.” Brian wasn’t having any more of the dodging from Lydia. “Two of you are covered in blood and look like hell.”

“Aww you noticed” Amy cooed. “And here I’d just gotten beaten up just for fun.”

Scowling at Amy as Lydia scampered ahead to prop open the door, Brian spoke in a no-nonsense voice. “This isn’t a laughing matter. She’s half dead, and you don’t look much better.”

There was no getting around this one. “Fine, just come into the apartment before anyone else sees us.” She ignored Lydia shaking her head and waving her hands back and forth in a frantic ‘No’. “You’re quite…” She paused looking for a word other than pest. “…persistent, you know.” There was no answer from Brian.

Lydia sighed as she let all of them into the apartment. How was she going to explain all of this cutting edge technology in here? Brian hadn’t even seemed to notice as he put Anna on the couch. “I feel like a princess.” She twisted her head back to look at Amy. “You better not have kissed me while I was half-conscious.”

A mischievous smile crossed Amy’s lips. “Did you want me to do it while you were awake?”

Before she could protest Brian glared at both of them. “Stop it. Both of you” He turned to Anna. “I’m going to have to take your shirt off so I can get a better look. I’m a doctor.”

Great now he would get to look at her tiny breasts, even is he was kind of cute. Though Anna wasn’t sure how him being cute helped any. He looked to be in his early thirties. A young doctor, Mouse was so lucky.

Anna nodded her consent to being undressed. Brian’s mouth scrunched up to one side as he felt around Anna’s sides and arm. The holes in her hoodie weren’t matching up with the damage on her body. “For all the blood you’ve lost, and the way your shirt is ripped up, and the bruises are forming, you should have at least three broken ribs a bullet wound in your shoulder and a huge gash in your belly. You’re lucky to be alive, but I don’t understand how you healed up so fast.”

This guy was going to be trouble. Amy took Lydia aside. “Ok, fine. I got us into this. Now how do we get us out? He’s your neighbor” She whispered. Lydia had no idea. She’d spent more time avoiding this guy than anything. She didn’t even know he was a doctor. Amy frowned when she was told that. “Great. Well shy of Maxwell wiping his mind we’ve got a lot of explaining to do and I doubt we can lie our way out of this one.”

Brian pointed at Amy without looking up from Anna. “Quit your sewing circle gossiping and come over here. I need to look at you too, and no jokes about me wanting to feel you up or first dates, take the sweater off.”

With a disappointed sigh, Amy took off her sweater and walked over. “You denied me all my best material. You sure I can’t joke about something?” Why did he have to deal with the jokers?

It was the first time Brian’d really even gotten a look inside Lydia’s apartment. It was amazing. The tech was like nothing he’d ever seen before, and he was a gadget freak. He could ask her later. For the moment he had two women who were not quite as seriously wounded as they should be to deal with.

This wasn’t right. She had a residual bullet hole where Anna should have it. She also had bruises forming in some of the exact same places as Anna but she was healed up too. An arm that should be shattered just below the shoulder looked perfect save for the giant purple whelt starting to form. “Ok there’s something really weird going on here and you’re going to explain it all to me.”

This was no good. Amy would have to try a distraction. “Are you sure you couldn’t just forget about it if I promised you a kiss?”

Brian raised a brow. “Do you try to kiss everyone?”

Shrugging, Amy turned and walked with a bit of sensual charm to where she’d put her sweater on the back of a chair. “Only the cute ones.” She winked.

Maybe if he wasn’t infatuated with Lydia, he might have fallen for her attempts to distract him with seduction. Maybe even if Lydia had been the one it would have worked. Actually it would have for the sheer fact it would have shocked him into a state of disbelief. He looked over at her. Lydia was too busy sitting at the kitchen table looking like a deer caught in headlights. “You promised we’d all talk about this over coffee. Now seems a good time.”

Amy poked Lydia. “Hey, Lydia, where do you keep the coffee?”

It took a moment to register, Amy calling her Lydia instead of Mouse. Lydia hopped up. “I’ll umm… brew some now.”

Pulling up a chair, Amy waved at a nearby one. “I’m Amy Adkins.” Motioning towards Anna she continued “Anna Blackwell, and I’m sure you know who Lydia is. You’re very nosy by the way.”

Brian’s cheeks turned a little red, and his eyes went to Lydia for a brief moment. “Brian O’Donnell.”

So that’s how it was. He had a crush on Mouse. That explained a lot. “I see.” Amy said sagely. “I suppose I’ll have to tell you. The three of us, we’ve known each other for some time. Years in fact, and we’re trapped in, a game you might call it. Anna there has a talent for healing, Lydia’s a superb engineer, and well, I’m the insatiable flirt.” No sense mentioning she was a clone. He didn’t need to know everything. “Anna’s studying to be a doctor herself.”

His eyes widened. There was no way. “She’s THE Anna Blackwell?”

“Hey stop talking about me like I wasn’t here.” Anna had put back on her hoodie, and stumbled weakly into the kitchen where everyone else was sitting.

Almost at once and in unison, Brian and Amy reprimanded her. “You’re supposed to be resting.”

Anna put her hands up defensively. “I heal fast. I’m mostly fine, and yes, I am the Anna Blackwell. The girl some people call a fraud, and the others call a miracle worker. The latter is closer to the truth. I’m…” She glanced at Amy who nodded. “I’m a psychic healer. I can absorb injuries into myself or give my own injuries to others. I… umm had to bestow some of my injuries onto Amy to survive.” Anna paused before continuing “But, mostly because she made me.” Anna looked at Amy sourly.

After sticking a tongue out at Anna, and Anna making a comment about Amy not sticking it out if she wasn’t sticking it out if she wasn’t going to use it. That only earned her banter of Amy promising to show Anna exactly how well she could use it when they got home, which made Anna blush and want to hide under the table. “Besides, I didn’t want you to die, Anna. Stop making it sound so horrible that I saved your life.”

Brian looked back and forth like he was watching a tennis match “You two are…”

Amy cut him off. “Roommates, I tease her like this all the time.” She glanced at Anna “Though if she’d ever give into my charms…” Amy trailed off, as Anna turned an even brighter red and looked like she wished she could disappear. Amy turned back to Brian. “Anyway enough tormenting Anna, you look like you’re about to go all white knight on me and ask if there’s something you can do.”

How did she know that? “I thought you said you were just a flirt.” Brian accused.

“I am. I’m just a really good detective, and I know how to read people.” Amy countered.

About this time, Lydia came back over with four cups of coffee. She sat down creamer sugar and spoons shortly after. Then she sat in the last available chair at the table. Amy made Lydia blush by teasing Brian. “Besides, I’m not the one you’re interested in.”

Anna giggled as she spooned some sugar into her coffee. “I was beginning to wonder why he was hanging around Lydia’s apartment so much.”

“I live downstairs!” Brian protested, as he took another turn at turning crimson. “And… umm… yes, if there is something I can do. I know people. Maybe they could get you out of this or the police maybe?”

Shaking her head Amy interrupted again. “As sweet as your offer is, I think we’re going to have to ride this out.” She sipped her coffee and then turned to Anna. “You know we should probably get going soon.” She again ignored a look from Lydia begging her not to do this.

He had caught the look. “I should probably go.” Brian said a little dejectedly

Amy grabbed his arm. “She’s just shy.” Amy swatted at Lydia, who was kicking her under the table. “Stop that. It’s good for you to meet other people. You live like a damn hermit, Lydia. He’s not going to bite you.” She narrowed her eyes and looked at Brian “Because if he did, I might have to bite him:”

The look Amy gave Brian actually made him believe this very extroverted woman might just do that, and not in a pleasurable way. He glanced at Anna who was giggling at the whole exchange. She was nothing like the girl he kept hearing about in medical papers. But then they always described her in such bland terms, as a object not a person. He wanted to talk shop with her someday. For now he would try to talk to Lydia, under threat of violence from Amy if he tried anything.

After finishing up her coffee, Amy stood. “Lydia, do try to come out of your shell. He’s a nice man.”

Silently Lydia cursed Amy for this. Amy had no right to play matchmaker and interfere with her life like this. Everyone kept interfering, and telling her how to live. Why couldn’t they trust her to know what was best for herself. Probably because every time they did, Lydia locked herself in her lab until she passed out from lack of sleep and food. She supposed they had a right to be worried, but this was meddling.

Now she was stuck with Brian in her house, and Amy and Anna were going to leave her alone with him. It was something like Maxwell would do. Tomorrow, Amy was going to get an earful. Lydia watched the two leave, then turned to look at Brian. She didn’t know what to say to him. She looked down into her coffee and fidgeted like a schoolgirl.

The silence was deafening, and uncomfortable. Brian almost missed that obnoxious flirt. At least she had a way of keeping the conversation going. Even if it meant seeing if any of the blood vessels in their cheeks would explode. He looked around, and then it hit him where to start. “The gear you’ve got in here. It’s cutting edge. Amy said you were an engineer. Did you design any of this?”

Lydia forgot herself. He talked a language she understood. She nodded a little. “My best work is in my workshop. But I keep a little of it here.” She reached inside her purse without thinking and pulled out one of the Mouse-bots she hadn’t activated the gas payload on. “This is one of my first and best designs. It’s much improved since the prototype.” She set the little Mouse-bot on the table.

His mind began to churn. He recognized that robot. It was her design? But that couldn’t be right. It looked identical to the ones the famous thief Mouse used. The last four words seemed to rattle off in slow motion. The stupidly meek personality, CEO of Mouse Electronics, there had been rumors. But now seeing the proof in front of him, his jaw dropped. “You’re… her”

Her? Her who? Then Mouse’s brain snapped back into thinking mode. Why the bloody Hades had she shown him a Mouse-bot? How was she even going to remotely explain this? ‘Why yes, I am a famous cat burglar. How did you know?’ somehow seemed like the wrong response. She bit her lower lip in the trademark mouse fashion.

If that robot didn’t, this confirmed it. The two front teeth, every tech geek worth his salt knew who Mouse was, and had heard the rumors and legends. Including how Mouse had supposedly gotten her name. Mouse was here and he was sitting across from her. He was drinking her coffee. “It’s true” Brian said breathlessly. “You are her.”

Damn it, Maxwell was going to kill her. She looked ready to cry. “Please, you can’t tell anyone.”

The look in her eyes was so scared and pitiful. He could do so much with this. Blackmail her. Turn her in for a reward so big he’d never have to listen to an old lady complaining about phantom pains. He could probably even make her sleep with him. But all of those things would hurt this beautiful and delicate little flower.

“Mouse…” he murmured. “Of course I wouldn’t. You’re a legend. Just being in the same room with you is like a dream. You have no idea how many people would give up their left arm just for this chance. I was living downstairs from ‘The Mouse’ all this time, and I didn’t even know.” He was going all fanboy on her. Stop it. Stop now. She’s going to run.

Was she really that popular, or was it infamous? She certainly knew she was well known for her security and engineering skills. But Brian was practically worshiping her like a hero. “I’m just Lydia Thompson, Brian. I made mistakes.” She looked down at her coffee. “It’s a life I’ve never been able to escape. I just want to invent things, but I’ve been killing myself doing that. I get so lost, and my body can’t take me ignoring it like I used to.”

Overwhelmed wasn’t even the word he would describe this as. She was baring her soul to him. “Maybe you just need someone to look out for you? And keep you from getting in too deep.” She actually looked up and smiled at him. Brian thought he was going to die and go to heaven right then and there.

“Maybe” She echoed. “You’re really sweet, but, I’ve gone two days without sleep and barely eating, and…” She wobbled. The adrenaline that had been keeping her going was wearing off. Brian jumped up and caught her as she started to fall. “I’ll help you to bed, ok? You need a lot of sleep and nourishment. I could check on you tomorrow, as a doctor” he didn’t want to push things.

“How about as a friend?” She asked softly. Lydia blamed her weary state. Two days with no sleep or food, then that damnable mission. No wonder she’d slipped up so badly. Now she was letting some guy who had been practically stalking her into her life.

She could barely stand. Focusing was impossible. Her world went blurry, and then she realized Brian had taken off her glasses. She felt herself being lifted up and carried. “Hey, I didn’t agree to this.” She protested weakly. But she kind of liked it. No one had ever carried her before.

“Hush, Lydia.”

She was carried down the hall and into her bedroom. Her flats were removed and she was laid down gently on the bed, like she was some sort of fragile doll. She was picked up briefly again and a warm bedspread draped over her. “I’d remove your clothes and put you in something better to sleep in, but I don’t think you’d be comfortable with that.” His words fell on deaf ears. She was out as soon as she’d been covered up. Brian smiled down at the sleeping Mouse before exiting her bedroom. He turned off her coffee maker and cleaned up before heading out and locking the door behind him.

“That was a horrible thing to do to Mouse you know.” Anna gave Amy a dirty look.

“Pfft. You know as well as I do she needs to get laid. Besides he’s a good person. He won’t take advantage of her. He might even keep her from sending herself to an early grave. Now if I could just find someone to do that for you.” Amy sounded mischievous again.

“Don’t you dare!” Anna yelled at Amy. “He was kind of cute though and totally infatuated with Mouse. I wonder what he’ll do when he finds out she’s a former thief.”

The thought made Amy smile. “He’s a gear head. He’ll probably worship the ground she walks on. His head will probably explode after meeting the famed Anna Blackwell and Mouse in the same day. He’d probably spontaneously combust if I told him everything about me.”

The thought made Anna giggle, and was almost enough to make her forget Amy’s threat of playing matchmaker. “I’ll find someone on my own, someday. Losing Alan hurt. I think I would have opened up to him in time. He was really sweet, and was totally infatuated with me. Besides, I’ve had you as a well… someone who actually cares about me. It’s helped me learn a lot. You can’t know love unless you feel it, after all.”

Amy chuckled. Anna was dodging her feelings a little. Now that Anna was older she had considered making a move on her. She was so full of life and the polar opposite of Vicki. “You sure you don’t want me to kiss you?”

They teased each other back and forth about it so much. Anna had to wonder how much of it was real, and how much was play. “I don’t know. I think you’d be terrible for me. You keep showing me your panties, and trying to seduce men in front of me.”

It was Amy’s turn to laugh. “I didn’t hear a ‘no’.”

“Seriously, Amy, I don’t know. I’ve never been really attracted to anyone. I’ve never even had sex with someone when I actually wanted to have it. Dr. Blackwell had the great idea to make us breed. Like we were some sort of pedigree dogs. I probably personally delivered ten or fifteen babies. I presume that woman hid them on some other level of the facility to see if they would show powers. I shudder to think what would have happened to the ones who didn’t.”

Her voice full of disgust, Anna continued. “It was that or that thing pampering her prized psychics with their pick of companions. Men, women, I’ve been with both. But it was always meaningless and bordered on rape. When I learned how to use my power to hurt them back, no one would touch me. Except Alan, and even then I think he would have done it on my terms.”

Amy reached over and patted Anna’s leg. “It should always be on agreed terms, love, always. I’ll be here when you make up your mind.”

As they drove home, Anna let the thoughts roll over in her mind. Amy had been so kind to her all these years. Then they’d become distant a while, and fate had thrown them back together. Maybe the idea of a silly little budding romance of Mouse and Brian was getting to her, making her want a relationship. But tonight wasn’t the time to decide. She was worn out from the beating, and the extended use of her power. Using it backwards always drained her of energy. Anna felt drowsy, maybe if she closed her eyes for just a second.

A nudge and Anna opened her tired eyes. “Anna, we’re home.” A soft voice whispered.

She must have fallen asleep on the way home. “Sorry. I’m so out of it, it’s hard to stay awake.” Anna mumbled.

Amy helped her friend out of the car, and up the stairs. As they went inside, on the couch was a pair of envelopes, with their names on them, waiting for them. “Oh look, we got broken into again. It’s a bigger tip this time too. My goodness, I must be doing something right.”

Too tired to laugh, Anna staggered off to her bedroom. Amy watched her. “Yeah, love, I’m tired too. It’s been a hell of a day. I hope next week we aren’t in as bad of shape as we were this time. Being sloppy almost got us killed. And I doubt our opponents are going to get any easier.” Amy walked into her bedroom, and changed into a t-shirt to sleep in. “I’m not gonna let you die, Anna.” Amy had to smile at herself. “It’s funny how familiar those words are. I said them once before to someone I had once been close to. I won’t make the same mistakes with her as I did you, Vicki. I promise.” Amy turned out the lights and went to bed.

It features two of my older characters who pop up every now and again and demand attention. One of them I enjoy very much (Kat), the other (Michael Forrester) is an emo bastard and if I could shoot him in the head I would. He knows I hate him and usually hides from me. Still every now and again he rears his ugly head and demands attention. This was one of those times. Since Kat also threatened to rip my face off if I didn’t write it, in her cute little feral way, I wrote the story.

Yes, my characters live in my head. It’s part of being a crazy author person. They also threaten me and take my Ryo-Oh-Ki hostage sometimes. *cuddles her plushie*

I got to put Kat in a unique situation as revenge, and her reaction was comical. She’s sulking right now. She probably won’t talk to me again for a while, which is a shame, because Kat is one of my more unique characters. People have been amused at her antics for some time, and some of my best gaming stories (like Impressionism) involve her.

Oh.. and you may notice some, references to a certain White Wolf game. The characters in question were played (by me) in said game universe.

Anywho, without further ranting, and being a crazy person I bring you, The Embrace

The Embrace

By StormWhisper

The full moon shined down and a chilly breeze fluttered through an alley, carrying an old newspaper and a few leaves as it made a small swirling motion. It also mussed the shoulder length, dark brown hair of a young woman lying in the same alley. She awoke slowly, feeling the breeze rushing across her face. It was dark, and she was hungry. A strong hunger overtook her. The smell of blood nearby excited her every sense. She did not know why, but this was what she craved, this blood.

Her mind clouded, more than it already was. Animal instinct took over, and she tore into the body, her fangs grew and she bit deep finding the jugular and drinking, until she was satisfied. She pulled her fangs free of the tender flesh, and rolled over, satisfied. As the red left her eyes, she felt herself beginning to change. She felt something pushing at her scalp, painfully pushing its way through. The pain made the crimson return to her eyes, because it was so intense. She leapt to her feet, and thrashed around the alley, throwing garbage cans at walls, a new pain, emerged from her lower back, it was too much pain. It intensified the enraged state where she only knew to lash out at everything.

Then a voice, in her head perhaps? She didn’t know but it soothed her and the crimson haze left her mind. She fell to her knees, panting, exhausted from all she had just endured. She noticed the panting was just a reflex. She was taking in air, and it filled her chest, but it felt, unnecessary. She stopped and rested, her butt eased onto the back of her legs. She did not know where she was, or how she had gotten there. Or why there had been a thirst for blood. All of these things confused her.

The instincts spoke to her. They said run. Running was what she should do when frightened and there was nothing to fight. So she ran. Another reflex seemed to take over, she noticed the few people on the streets at this hour simply stepped around her and continued talking, or doing what they had been doing despite that she had almost ran them down. It was hard to think but she tried to piece things together anyway. None of this made sense.

Looking around, she noticed was in a park now. Park, she knew this word. It was where, little ones played, a forest in the city. It felt at home. She stumbled to a bench, and sat down. But something was uncomfortable, painful. She jumped up. Looking at the bench nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But something was wrong. She remembered the intense pain, on her head, and just above her backside. She felt around.

There were soft, fuzzy, pointed things on her head. She recognized them but she could not place them. A scraggly black cat paused in front of her. It hissed and then darted away. She hissed back at it. Why had she done that? Wait these things on top of her head, they felt like something familiar. Were they like the cat things had on its head? Her hands went to the sides of her head. Yes, there were fleshy things there. Something told her that was the way things were supposed to be.

Tugging on these new things on top of her head hurt. They were attached and apparently also supposed to be there, or at least were not going away. The other forms like her didn’t have them. Why did she? She felt something behind her swish back and forth. She reached back, and felt something soft, circular, and furry. It was long enough to bring it around so she could see it. It too was like the one the cat had, only with grey hair. There was a pond nearby and she rushed to it. A glowing circle in the sky cast its reflection on the still waters. It was dark, but she could see her face. There were indeed things on her head like the cat had, but why?

“Kat” She uttered. Something about the word seemed familiar. Was she like this other creature? No she ran on two legs, not four. Her other legs did not have the same features. They were not furry, and ended in fleshy flexible sticks. She did not know what she was. But Kat, it felt right. It must be her name. “Kat is Kat?” She curiously asked the reflection in the water. It didn’t answer but what she had said felt right.

This park, it felt, at home, but it was too small for her and many others had claimed it. The scents intermixed so much it was hard to tell one from the other. She needed more space and one that was not so contested. Off in the distance, she could see trees, on a raised piece of land. Yes that would be better. She would go there. Follow the way to the big land. That could be her home.

Kat felt something was following her, but every time she looked for it, it was not there. She began to run, and that instinct took over again. People on the street walked around her, but acted as if they did not see her. Kat called to a man and a woman who had just stepped around her without even noticing they had done it. “Do you not see Kat?” Then they turned, and saw this woman, crouching, but with feline features, her tail curled into a question mark. The woman screamed, and the man stood in front of her protectively, his arms out at his sides, shielding her. Kat understood these motions. He was protecting his territory, the things that belonged to him.

Hissing at him, then turning and running, Kat knew this was not her place. If she frightened him, perhaps he would not chase. He was not a predator, but she did not feel like hunting or fighting now. He feared her. He was prey. Prey feared the predator. It was the way of things. The hiding reflex took over again. It seemed natural now. It would make hunting easier. Yes, this was also right. Hiding and stalking prey until it was time to pounce on the kill. She did not know why she knew this, but this was also the way things worked. With confidence now, she said to herself “Kat is Kat.”

She passed the oddities of this cold hard place. Lights shined down from tall, thin, strangely shaped trees. There were huge looming boxes to her left and right. They made her feel small, crowded. She did not like this feeling. It was not the feeling of a predator. Predators did not fear save for other predators. Then they fought for what was theirs.

The comfort of being around the trees she knew could not come soon enough. An earthy smell greeted her as she made her way into the forest. Her green eyes flicked back and forth. Yes, this felt right. This was the place she belonged. She bound through this place, sniffing, searching for territory that was not claimed, so she may claim it. She found a small cave, it was dark inside but her eyes easily pierced the darkness as they glowed with a faint red color. Nothing lived here. This was a good place. She could claim this as hers. Now she would need to mark her territory so others did not come and try to take it from her.

Kat had not noticed before, but now, as one of the bushes she ran by grabbed at the white shirt she was wearing. Kat noticed she was covered with these strange things. Was this normal? The fur was not colored the same, no not fur, something like what the others that she had frightened were wearing.

Looking at it closely, she rubbed a white thing covered her chest, between her fingers. The feeling was strange, it did not feel natural. It covered a little of her front, legs, no, not legs, arms. Yes arms, that was right. Something short covered the tops of her legs. They were a light brown, and had holes for her legs. Two of them, one for each leg, and a hole on the side she could put her hand in, but this hole had a bottom. She could store useful things there, when she found something useful.

Something soft and seemingly stretchy covered the rest of her legs. It was grey, and seemed fragile. There was a place her flesh was exposed. She did not think it was supposed to be that way. These coverings went all the way up her legs, and covered her groin. They were soft, and felt nice against her skin. She did not think they protected well, but it did not matter. She liked them.

Something else covered her feet. So many things were on her, covering so much and overlapping. But they seemed to protect her feet, but only the bottom, and the toes. They were black, but flexible. They ran with her, and did not fall off, even if they enclosed her feet, and she could not feel the ground because of it. But the soft fragile thing covered her toes too. It would tear and have more holes if it were not protected. It was best these flexible things stayed on her feet.

As she ran about deciding what would be her territory, and what she could claim for herself, and reasonably protect, she noticed the ground had become soft. It pulled at the things protecting the bottoms of her feet. She did not like this at all. It was annoying, and hard to walk in. Nothing claimed this territory, but it smelled bad, like death, no this was not a place she wanted. The sticky ground only seemed to go a short ways before it looked as if it would not have its grip on her feet. There was a place where the light from above glistened on the ground, but it was the shortest path to the firmer ground. She began to pick her way to it.

She looked at the glistening ground questioningly. Why did not the other ground do this? Something about it seemed wrong. But it was only a short way across. Her legs were strong. They could carry her across if she leaped. She took a few steps back. She could leap better if she ran. That was the way of things.

At the edge of the shiny ground however, the sticky ground she had been fighting against thus far insisted on grabbing her feet coverings, and she stumbled as they pulled off her feet. She took a few steps into the even softer ground of the pool around her. It swallowed her feet completely. Kat was annoyed by this. She did not want to be in this sticky ground. She wanted her feet coverings back too.

Kat turned to step back to where her feet coverings were, or at least tried. Her feet would not move. She lost her balance, and in trying to catch herself, she pulled at the gooey ground, and in turn, it pulled back, and began to suck at her shins. Now Kat was angry. But she must not succumb to that crimson haze again. Her thoughts came hard enough as it was and becoming like that again seemed very dangerous here. “Let Kat go!” She yelled at the ground as she pulled at her legs, but it’s only response was to begin to swallow her calves.

Was this another kind of predator? No, she did not sense the feel of a predator from it. This was the thing that smelled most like death. Kat would not die here. She tried to walk again pulling with all her might, but all that happened was the ground claiming her knees. “You will not beat Kat. Kat will not let you have Kat, sticky ground!” She flattened her ears and hissed at it. The ground did not seem to care about her attempt to frighten it and instead began to suck down her thighs.

Pulling and fighting with the sticky ooze only seemed to make her sink deeper into it. Kat was frustrated and tired now. She could not free herself from the trap she was in this way. She looked around frantically. Was there something she could use, to pull herself to freedom from this goop? A thick tree root stuck out of the ground to her right. If she could reach that, she was certain she could beat this soft sucking trap.

She turned to reach for it. It was hard, without being able to move her legs and the sticky muck only responded by pulling them in even deeper. The root was just out of her reach, if only she could move her legs. She fought, trying to free them or at least get closer to the root. They only submerged completely into the ground. Kat yowled in frustration. She slapped at the ground, but this only got her hands dirty. “Let go of Kat!” She pleaded. “Kat does not want you to have Kat.” A gurgle from the sticky mire and her stomach being dragged under was its only response.

“Why do you want Kat?” She tried to reason with it. Maybe it would let her go if she could only convince it. “Kat is not food. Kat is not tasty. Kat will bring you something good, part of Kat’s kill if you let Kat go. Kat will call you alpha. Kat admits Kat cannot win. Let Kat go now.”

The ground didn’t seem impressed by her offer. It just sucked in her chest. It seemed determined to have her. A voice pierced the air. It was deep, gruff. “Talking to quicksand will do you no good, love. It is not alive. It cannot hear you. It cares nothing for being your alpha or shares of your kills. It simply does what it was meant to do. Suck the things foolish enough to fall into it into its depths.”

She turned her head this way and that, she finally looked up into the trees, and saw a form hunched down on a branch. “Kat was not foolish. Kat tried to leap over it, but it tricked Kat. It took away Kat’s foot coverings and made Kat stumble into it. It was not Kat’s fault. Kat did not want to be here. Kat knew it was bad. Please help Kat. Kat is stuck, and Kat cannot get free.” The muck claimed her armpits as she begged for her life.

The form laughed softly, a sad laugh. “Kat is the name you chose for yourself I see. I can see why. You didn’t take well to the embrace did you? You were such a smart woman before, so vibrant and full of life.” He sighed. “Now look at you. Sporting feline features, trapped in a pool of quicksand and begging feebly for your life. Maybe it was a mistake, Kat. I hurt you. I took away everything that made you, you.”

Kat looked up at him pleadingly. She did not understand his talk, only that he could possibly free her. “Kat will die. Kat does not want to die. Please help Kat.”

The form jumped down from the tree, and landed at the edge of the pool. Wolf eyes greeted Kat, and she sensed the predator within this one. “I made you, you are my responsibility. You will not die there Kat. You may slip below the surface, but you don’t need to breathe. Eventually you will find its bottom, and then you can fight your way to the side, and pull yourself free. However, I suspect morning will come long before then, and I’ve done enough harm. Taking away that which I have given, it’s not fair to you. You don’t even know what you lost, do you?”

Even more confused by this strange talk of a time before Kat, Kat cocked her head. “Kat is Kat. Kat has always been Kat. That is all Kat knows.”

The man kneeled down and caressed Kat’s cheek. “I know, sweetheart. I know. You are Kat now. The way you put it is simple and direct, but you are convinced of this. Come on now. Give me your hand, before you get any muddier.” He regretted his foolish actions. He could have enjoyed her for a time the way she was, as he should have. He could have kept her young and beautiful without resorting to this.

Love didn’t last forever. Not for vampires. Even if she had come out, normal, would she have appreciated the gift, and the curse laid on her? Would she hate him for making him a monster? The other way would have forced love, and he wanted her to give it freely. Perhaps she was better off this way, now that the deed had been done. Her thinking was simple and didn’t understand what she was, but intelligence still shined in her eyes.

Twisting about again, Kat freed a muddy hand from the mire at the cost of the sucking bog claiming her neck and beginning to tug at her chin. The man had immense strength. He effortlessly yanked Kat out of the slime. She yowled in pain. Her arm hurt now and felt limp.

The man shook his head. “I suppose I should have used more finesse. I’ll reset that for you. It’s just dislocated. Try not to scratch my face off, but it’s going to hurt.”

Hurt it did, but at least her arm didn’t feel useless now. She was angry with this man for hurting her. She leaped back several feet, got on all fours, and her ears laid back tail raised with the fur on it spiked and she hissed. She would frighten him into submission for hurting her.

After laughing, at the silly woman a moment, the man scolded her. “Kat that is no way to behave towards someone who just saved you, even if you got hurt a little.”

Kat shrunk back and looked meek. He had not been frightened, and he was stronger than her.

This earned more laugher from the man. “Such a feral one you turned out to be. It’s cute in its own little way. You will accept me as your alpha, unless you wish to try and fight for your right.” Kat exposed her neck. There was no need to fight this battle. It was best to submit and wait for a better time, when she was not tired and weak. “No, I thought not. Come now. Let’s get you cleaned up and into some fresh clothes. You may call me Michael, and in a sense, I am your father. You’ll learn the ways.”

The woman once known as Katherine Moon was gone. Instead she was replaced by a creature known as Kat. Instead of a lover, Michael had gained a daughter. Perhaps it was for the best. Though he missed her glasses already, the embrace must have cleaned up her eyesight. She had looked so beautiful with them on. But now that she was feral, it suited her not to have them. Predators with poor senses were not predators for long. He would teach her the ways, and then set her free. It was best not to try to teach her of her old life. He wasn’t even certain she could comprehend it.

He watched as the muddy woman bounded back to her cave, at a full sprint. She hadn’t lost that free spirit that made Katherine so beautiful. He could see bits of Katherine still in Kat. The way she ran, the way she had looked at him earlier, and she had adapted to her new life quickly. As he thought about it, Katherine would have begged for her life too in that situation. Maybe, in time, Katherine could be brought back. She wasn’t gone, just confused and lost. Once he saw Kat safely into her cave, and taught her how to put on fresh clothes and clean herself, Michael left her to settle herself in her new home.

Back in the alley, a pair of glasses laid, abandoned. One lens was cracked, where something had smashed into it. Michael picked them up and smiled at them. “A perfect metaphor for you aren’t they, Katherine? A shattered mind to match your shattered lens, but both can be repaired. One day, I’ll have you back. I just hope you don’t hate me for what I’ve done.” Michael looked up at the dawn that was just beginning to peek over the horizon. It was time to rest. Michael put the glasses into his pocket. Perhaps she would need them again someday. He dissipated into mist and floated on the winds. The park was nearby. He could sleep in the soft earth there. Tomorrow, he would teach Kat. One day, he would embrace his Katherine. They did have forever, after all.

]]> http://stormwhisper.cybergoddess.net/?feed=rss2&p=13 http://stormwhisper.cybergoddess.net/?p=11 http://stormwhisper.cybergoddess.net/?p=11#comments Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:10:00 +0000 stormwhisper http://stormwhisper.cybergoddess.net/?p=11 I’m looking for an artist to do some artwork for the site. What I’m looking for is someone to do pics of my characters for the characters section. I’m not looking for the most amazing artwork in the universe, but I am a little picky.

Style isn’t as important, Anime, Poser, what have you. So long as it works for the characters then it’s good by me. I would like the same artist to do all the work, and I will be willing to pay per piece, at a negotiable and reasonable rate. Keep in mind this is a free website, that makes me $0.

We can hash out details, but the creative bits are up to the artist. Just like I wouldn’t expect a artist to tell me how to write, I’m not going to tell an artist how to draw. As long as it works with the feel of the character. (For example, Amy would work great in a seductive/suggestive pose. Vicki Reynolds or Mouse, not so much.)

Pieces however must be in color.

You can submit your work to me to be viewed at StormWhisper10@gmail.com or send me a link to your gallery website, whatever works.

Thanks!

Amanda

So that said, read at your own risk. It does explain a few things referenced in The Games Arc however, so if you want to read it for that purpose, knock yourself out.

The Mysitcs Arc – Final Chapter

Bring it together, to take it apart.

The bright light of the sun shined in her eyes, and Anna almost tripped on her way off the train. Someone caught her arm, and she offered up a nervous smile and mumbled a thank you. This station was no different from the one she had left it seemed, well ok the train let off onto an open air platform. A whistle sounded the train’s immanent departure, and Anna hurried quickly away from it. She still had most of the money she had been given. She’d just give it all to Alex, as a thank you. But she had to get there first. Only a few people had gotten off at the stop with her, and they’d hurried off towards the inside already. It was just her on the platform. Anna had never felt more alone.

A ringing phone disturbed Maxwell’s watching his wall monitor. He scowled at it. He’d told the temp in no uncertain terms he was not to be disturbed. Before he could press the intercom button her nervous, mousy voice came across. “I’m sorry, Mr. Maxwell, but the woman insisted. She said her name was Miriam and if I didn’t…” Maxwell scowled at the phone as he turned off the intercom. He snatched the phone off its cradle. “This had better be good, Vivian.” He snarled into the phone.

Rarely was Maxwell in such a foul mood, especially when things seemed to be going so well. Well except his secretary calling in sick yesterday. The temp had been anything but competent, and her continual mantra of “I’m sorry, Mr. Maxwell” had gotten on his last nerve. Vivian seemed amused at his temper “Did I catch you at a bad moment, Maxwell?” her voice was sickenly sweet. He hated that woman with every ounce of his being. Perhaps he should send this temp to work for her for a while. That would be a wonderful revenge.

“I so hate to bother you, in your present state, Maxwell” Vivian seemed to take pure delight from every moment of talking to him in this faux polite and sweet tone. “But ‘My Lovely Daughter’ has just arrived at her station. I do hope you’ve got something arranged.” If sarcasm could ooze through phones, his office would have filled up with it with those three words alone. Her lovely daughter indeed, Vivian rarely even acknowledged Anna’s presence except for her abilities and the fact the girl was a constant pain in her neck.

Rolling his eyes, Maxwell sorely wished he could reach through the phone and slap that insolent smirk off Vivian’s face. “I had things ready three days ago, Vivian.” He responded his words clipped, full of obvious annoyance. She was enjoying every minute of it too. He slammed the phone down back down onto its cradle. That woman had her laugh at his expense. He wasn’t giving her any more pleasure today.

Maxwell mashed the intercom button. “I don’t care if they tell you they’ll feed you your own eyeballs if you don’t connect them to me. No. More. Calls. Got it?” He thought he heard the woman squeak from the visual image from something out of a horror movie. “I’m sor…” He pushed the mute button on the intercom again. The sooner that fool was gone the better. He turned back to the footage playing on his wall.

The monitor had been focused on Anna since the moment she stepped off the train. The train employee who’d kept her from falling on her face, the fear in the poor girl’s eyes as she looked around a mostly empty train station. He’d seen it all, and he was watching her now as she walked slowly through the baggage claim, looking confused.

He felt sorry for her. Tortured by Vivian, and now lost and alone in a unforgiving world she’d never even seen before a few days ago. Even her rescuers had abandoned her. If his guess was right, she was running to Alexandra Dangor.

It seemed unlikely she’d run to one of the psychic refugee safe houses. She probably didn’t even know where they were. There were two rescuers. One was obvious. It was Mary, the only geokinetic Vivian had ever found. She was rather good at finding the rare ones, even the ones who could blend into society well. Mary hadn’t been one of them. Then again turning people’s front yards into deadly bogs tends to get you noticed, even when it’s unintentional. The other was still unidentified. Probably one of the handfuls of telekinetics that had escaped Vivian’s little operation. For a facility that was supposed to be so secure, she seemed to lose one of those kids every other week.

Turning his attention back to the monitor, he saw Anna was outside now and shielding her eyes from the blinding sun with her hand. The other had one of the straps from the backpack on her back in a death grip. The cabbie he’d paid to be watching for her pulled up in front. He helped her into the cab and drove off. Pay people well enough and they’ll do anything without asking questions. The fact it was his job to do anyway this made it alot easier. Make a note of the directions to the place the girl wanted to go. Tell them to Maxwell when he called. Maxwell shut off the monitor. It would be time to move on the house soon enough. He smiled at the paired 9mm that Vicki had handed to him that he’d mounted on his wall. The magicks on them were fading. Even that idiot temp letting Vivian through again couldn’t foul his mood.

Grabbing a jacket from the coat rack, Maxwell strode out of his office. The mousy little temp woman looked up at him, holding out a phone. “I’m sorry, Mr. Maxwell, I know you said you shouldn’t be disturbed, but the woman said it was urgent.” He wanted to cringe at those words, but he fought off the urge. “I’m sure whatever it is, it can wait. I have business to conduct. I won’t be in the rest of the day. Send all my calls to voice mail.” Before she could protest, Maxwell walked into a waiting elevator.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Blackwell, but Mr. Maxwell has left the office.” Miriam glared at the phone as she slammed it back down. How dare he do that to her? Still, this was too important to leave to him to screw up. Miriam stood, and for the first time in years prepared to leave the facility. She walked outside her office where two men in black armored uniforms with what looked to be black motorcycle helmets on their heads stood. She looked at the one on the left. “You, inform Scott he’s to locate a cab that just left the Greenville Train Station, and follow it’s every movement and report to me every 5 minutes with its exact location.” She turned to the one on the right. “Inform Alan he is to contact one of his spirits, coordinate with Scott and have it follow the cab. Once he has it following the cab he is stay focused on that spirit alone until he knows its route and exact destination.”

Moving at brisk pace down the hall, Miriam didn’t watch the two men scatter at her command. She saw a third by the elevator. “Have Jennifer and Thomas in a van, ready to leave in 5 minutes.” She barked at him “I also want a separate van with a full contingent of blanks ready to go behind it. Collar Jennifer. She’s new and still untrustworthy but she is the most powerful telekinetic I have. Also have someone inform Steven he’ll be coming as well. I’ll be going on this one to supervise it personally.”

She didn’t hear the tiny gasp come from behind the helmet. She knew her going out personally on a mission would shock and perhaps even terrify the blanks, as they were called because they had no powers, she used as guards. They had no other useful function than muscle, and keeping the psychics in line. The suits had been specially designed to shield them from all mental powers and withstand the extremes a cryo or pyrokinetic might throw at them.

There had been a few exceptions, like Mary and Anna. While certainly the suits could take a beating, a section of concrete wall collapsing on them, was a little much. No matter how good the suits were they were still limited by physics. Anna’s damage feedback trick had caught everyone by surprise. She could hurt herself, and then reverse the normal function of her powers to inflict it on whomever she touched, as opposed to absorbing it into herself. The power had been discovered by accident, but once she figured out how to do it regularly, Anna had become a true threat. Anna wasn’t exactly cooperating in fixing the armor to withstand it either, despite Miriam’s best efforts.

That was the important thing Maxwell needed to know. Anna could kill him, or anyone else she felt threatened by. Not that Miriam gave a damn if he died, but she wasn’t losing her chance to capture Anna. Well that, and the Dangor estate wasn’t going to hand over its prize to him as easily as he thought, even weakened, it would still be formidable. Maxwell didn’t take troops with him, and even with Vicki and Mouse somewhere else, it wasn’t going to be the cakewalk he thought it was going to be.

As the cab pulled up to the front gate, Anna looked up at the tall, wrought iron gates. They seemed to look back, menacing, as if daring her to come near them. Anna shuddered. The cabbie looked back at her. “This is where you wanna go, Miss?” Anna nodded and handed him money, “This should cover it” she mumbled. She wondered how Alex could live in a place like this. The cab drove off, leaving her standing there, staring up at the gates. She couldn’t see the house from here. It was obscured by trees, and the wide path turning off to the left didn’t help.

A buzzer was along the side of a large brick wall, which protected the rest of the house. Ivy grew on the wall, almost hiding the red bricks from view, as the vegetation was so thick. Anna shuddered. The place looked like something from a horror movie. She’d only seen one or two. They hadn’t let her watch TV much. She pressed the button labeled talk. “Umm, hello?” she asked in a shaky voice. “My name is Anna Blackwell. I, I’ve come to see Lexi.”

The gate opened with a creak, making Anna almost jump out of her skin. “You’ve been expected Ms. Blackwell” the box answered. “A car is waiting for you.” Anna stared wide eyed at the gate. She didn’t see a car, but if the box said it was there, it must be. But how did they know she was coming? Anna hastily ran down the path past the gate, as if expecting the huge gate to snap shut on her. Around the bend of the drive, a black sedan awaited. An older man in a uniform opened a back door for her. “If you’ll step inside Ms. Blackwell, I’ll take you to the front door.”

This was strange to Anna. How far could it be to the front door? She climbed inside the car, and set her backpack down. The man opened the driver side door and sat down behind the wheel. He didn’t look back at her as he spoke. “I see you brought along a friend.” Anna was perplexed. No one had come with her. “You can come out now. You’re welcome here, as you always have been.” Anna looked wide eyed at her backpack as it moved, then a little mouse skittered out, and into her lap. Or more precisely, a mouse shaped robot. It stood up on its hind legs and chittered at Anna.

A soft chuckle came from the man in the front seat as he started to drive. “It seemed Mouse has been keeping an eye on you. She’s improved them. I’ve never seen one with an AI before. She’s improving her designs.” Anna remembered Mouse. She was the girl that Mary had terrified into a state of shock. Why did Mouse care what happened to her? Was it because she had more or less saved Mouse’s life? “Mouse makes these?” She said in disbelief. The little mouse-bot lay down in Anna’s lap, seeming to be perfectly content there.

Anna got up the nerve to ask, as the car started. “How did you know it was there? Do you have powers like Scott’s? To sense and control machines?” The man laughed softly again. “No, not quite like that, but I do possess powers of my own. You may call me, James. I work for Miss Alexandra.” Anna felt a little relieved by this. She turned to look out the window. The yard was covered in trees. Huge ones, many with gnarled twisted branches they had a frightening air about them. She wondered if they might even uproot and chase the car down the path. Anna quickly leaned back into her seat and looked away from the window.

“Foreboding looking isn’t it?” James said in soft, soothing tones. “You’ll find the inside of the house much less, dramatic.” Anna looked up at him and noticed he was looking at him in the rear view mirror with his brown eyes. They had a kindly look about them. “There will be much to talk about when we arrive, and before you see Miss Alexandra. I shall make you some hot cocoa. It will warm you and soothe your nerves.” Anna wasn’t real sure what hot cocoa was, but he made it sound good anyway.

Another soft chuckle came from the front of the car, as James drove down the winding path. “They didn’t tell you much, did they? I expected as such. Vivian, or as you know her, Dr. Blackwell, assumed you’d be there for a very long time, and keeping you in the dark about the outside world, would make it too frightening to want to leave.” Anna shook a little nervously, her breathing came in short gasps, he knew Dr Blackwell. He was going to take her back. She began to panic, when James spoke up again. “I have no intention of taking you back there, Miss Anna.”

Anna was confused now. How did he always seem to know what she was thinking? Of course, he was a telepath, but he could do that thing Scott did too. She’d never heard of someone having more than one talent. Another soft laugh came from the front of the car. “It is but one of my many abilities, Miss Anna.”

The car came to a stop in front of a large Victorian house. The gate had been menacing. This thing, it was like something out of a nightmare. Thick ivy grew up the ancient looking walls. The house seemed to stare back down at her, daring her to step foot inside. As she got out of the car, she felt a reassuring hand at her back. “It’s just old and grumpy, Miss Anna. It won’t harm you. It knows you are a friend.” Anna shook her head. He spoke about the house as if it were alive. She wasn’t sure running to Lexi was such a good idea anymore. “You’ll be safe, for the time being, Miss Anna. Come inside, we’ll get you warmed up and more at ease.” Anna didn’t like the phrase, for the time being. But she had no choice but to go forward now.

The interior of the house didn’t make her feel any better than the exterior. There was a large staircase in the center of the room that led upstairs, leading to hallways to the left and right. On the lower floor was the same. Large dark ominous hallways lead off to the same directions at the ones upstairs. Anna wanted to run, screaming, out of the house but she wasn’t certain what that would accomplish aside from denying her the only safe haven she might have left. She was lead through a door and past a huge dining room with a table like she’d never seen. It looked like it could have seated twenty.

“I can imagine after being confined in such a tiny space for so long, this must be overwhelming to you. Why don’t I take you to the study? It’s smaller and cozier there. I think you’ll like it.” Anna nodded nervously. More places she’d never heard of before. Still, it had to be better than this. She was lead off again, and down one of the dark hallways. There were lamps that jutted out of the walls that cast what seemed like the dimmest light they could possibly cast. Perhaps they too were scared of the darkness.

James frowned, glaring up at the ceiling. “Behave yourself. You’re scaring the poor girl.” He spoke, seemingly to no one in particular. “You know perfectly well she’s no danger to you or Miss Alexandra.” As if whatever he was talking to understood, the hallway lights brightened, forcing the darkness into little pockets. Anna wasn’t certain if she should be glad the horrible ambiance was gone, or afraid that the house responded to James’s commands. He opened a door. “Here you should like this better. There are some books if you would like to read. I imagine it’s one of the few things they did let you do. Vivian was always very strict and controlling among other things. You are free to explore the house if you are so inclined. However I suspect I will find you here when I return. I’ll bring you some hot cocoa and we’ll talk a while.”

He was right about one thing. Anna had no desires to run about this crazy house. It would probably try to eat her. The study was as cozy as promised. A fireplace kept the room warm, and two large cushioned chairs in a dark red color, invited her to sit. A small table sat between the chairs with an antique lamp sitting atop it. It didn’t take James long to return with two steaming mugs. “Now be careful, it’s hot.” He offered gently as he set the mugs onto coasters on the table. Anna carefully picked up her mug by the handle and wrapped her other hand around the opposite side. Peering into it, she saw a dark brown liquid. It smelled wonderful. James’s mug was filled with a clearer substance, with a slight yellow hue. A bag with a string attached rested inside.

“Herbal tea” he explained. “Also restful, but not a favorite of teenaged girls.” He took a sip, and set it down on a coaster. “Now. We have much to discuss and little time to do it in. You’ll forgive me I hope if I drop pretenses. There are things you need to know about your parents. About Vivian, and Maxwell, the company they belong to, and why you are so interesting to them.” Anna kept her hands wrapped around the mug, grateful for the warmth that it provided, after being out in the chilly air and in this freakish house.

It just wasn’t his day. Maxwell frowned as the cabbie told him he didn’t remember taking any teenaged girls anywhere, much less to a house outside of town. There was a fare record, though it was for an entirely different person that had been picked up at the train station and taken across town. No, he had driven Anna, but that infernal house had erased his memory of ever having been there. Even weakened its protective magicks were strong. It even managed to falsify the records.

However, there was a way. He had been to that house, been welcome there, almost twenty years ago. He would have to force himself to remember. The house’s magicks were waning, and his were stronger. He would meditate, he would remember, it would just take time. With the house’s defenses weakened, time was a luxury he had.

It was time to ask questions. “You… talk to the house like it’s alive.” Anna had been confused by that, and just about everything else since she had arrived. James leaned back into his chair and took another sip of his tea. “It is alive, in a manner of speaking. In the same way Mouse’s little robot there is alive,” Anna hadn’t even felt the little mouse bot climb up her leg. She had wondered where it had gotten off too. It chittered at her, before running off to some dark corner of the room. “I suppose Mouse can be privy to this conversation too. It’s not like I could stop her. Well, at least without effort that I should not be spending right now.”

“I’m sure you’ve determined by now that you are different from other people in the outside world. Maybe even Vivian or one of the others she brought in told you. People like you, Alexandra, and I are special. We can do things others cannot. Much like your sister, you have untapped potential. Perhaps not as much as she does, but it’s there none the less and you have learned to use some of it. You took more after your mother than your father. She was never as strong as he was.” James explained

“But I don’t have a sister” Anna protested. James merely smiled at her. “Of course you do. You’ve even met her, even if neither of you realized you were related. Now you’re only half sisters. You share a common father. Marcus didn’t father you until after he was married. Well, father is an incorrect term, he aided in your birth.” Anna looked perplexed again.

He motioned towards the mug in her hands “Drink up, Anna. It should be cool enough by now.” Anna looked at the dark brown liquid skeptically. James chuckled at her. “I assure you there’s nothing harmful in there. That wouldn’t serve either of our goals.”

Anna looked briefly at him and nodded before staring back down into the mug. Even if there were, her body would purge it quickly and heal any damage. Dr. Blackwell’s poisons to make her sleep had never kept her down more than fifteen minutes.

She took a small sip, and found it to be quite tasty. A larger drink gave her the full experience. She didn’t have words to describe it. It was like nothing she had tasted before. It warmed her throat and body as it went down. “It’s very good.” She managed after a moment of just letting the liquid run its course. James smiled “It has been a favorite of teenaged girls for many years. You have a, shall we say, unique family, Anna. It will be a little overwhelming so you may want to set that down. Spilling hot liquid on yourself would be, unpleasant.” He grinned at his joke. “Let’s start with your parents. Your father is Marcus Dangor. While that name won’t mean anything to you at the moment, give it time.”

Leaning back in his chair, James continued. “Your mother is Vivian Murphy. The name you know her as however is Dr. Miriam Blackwell.” Anna almost choked “But… She can’t be!” She practically yelled in protest. James cocked his head to one side, with that peculiar grin he displayed more often than Anna cared for. “And why couldn’t she? Because she never acted like a mother? Perhaps because she treated you so poorly? Maybe you just don’t want that to be true. Even some or all of those could be true.” Anna squirmed in her seat and wrinkled her nose. The more this man said the less she liked about him.

James sipped his tea. “I imagined you wouldn’t like that news much, so let’s move on to your sister. She is upstairs, in a sullen mood at the moment. However I’m sure knowledge that you have come unexpectedly should cheer her up.” Anna’s jaw hit the ground. Lexi was her sister? As the idea rolled in her brain she could see the resemblances between then. Little things, their jaws, their almost flat chests, other little features about their bodies had been similar. Because her nightmares had been so overwhelming she hadn’t really given it much thought then, and after it never crossed her mind.

All of this was making Anna’s head swim. “You said my father only assisted in my birth. I thought… you know.” James cracked a smile at Anna’s stumbling with the concept of sex. She’d never been in love, or wanted to do anything like that. Why should she be comfortable talking about it? He knew everything about her already, from keeping tabs on Vivian, and from the car ride where he had invaded her mind. While he did that rarely, as it was unpleasant and rude, sometimes one could not afford or take the time to be polite. He had been impressed with her mental defenses, they were quite formidable. Especially for someone who had trained herself to do it. Anna had most likely done it to keep Vivian out of her head.

James continued on “There are other methods, especially when dealing with people like us. You can take any injury, mental or physical into yourself. Why couldn’t Marcus simply make Vivian pregnant because both of them willed it so?” Anna didn’t want to consider that idea. “Children still require two sets of chromosomes, so Marcus donated his. And thus you were born. I’m sorry it’s not more, glamorous of a story. You were more of an experiment to Vivian. Not her daughter.”

This news didn’t exactly settle well either. It explained a lot of things, but, none of them she really wanted explained. “There’s more to this, I’m not going to like either, isn’t there?” James sighed and nodded. “It’s an intricate web concerning a lot of people who were too closely linked. Maxwell for example, the gentleman who gave you your original cab ride to the train station, is your uncle. He seems to be looking out for you, in his own little disturbed way. I’m not certain if it’s to spite Vivian, genuine concern for his nieces, or perhaps both.”

Anna liked this less and less. She was the prize to be won in someone else’s chess game, both her and Lexi. The worst part was there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it. She’d never felt so helpless in her entire life. Back at the facility she could at least fight back, mastermind escapes. But the others had begged her to escape as well. They wanted their “leader” on the outside. Not that she hadn’t wanted to escape, she hated it there, locked up, underground, in a strict rules system that rewarded those who played nice-nice and let Dr. Blackwell play with them like they were toys. But they had abandoned their “leader” when things went south. They knew the risks, why would they do this to her? Her mind moved on to other things.

The punishments were even worse than being experimented on. Anna had been locked into Level Zero more than once. A dark room, with nothing there, nothing to keep you occupied. Nothing to see, nothing to feel except the cold hard steel walls, just blank space and darkness was all that was there. They kept you stripped of your power in there. Apparently, Dr. Blackwell had engineered, or discovered, anti-psis, people who simply by existing nullified all psychic powers in the vicinity. Not that Anna’s power was particularly useful until she’d learned to make them work for her as an attack, which had been a fluke. It required her to hurt herself when she had to use it so she tried not to. But being cut off from your power, it was like losing a limb.

Anna had seen more than one case where somewhere lost some level of their sanity in there, and she was generally the one to fix it. She would be comatose for days at a time, or babbling to herself about nothing. She’d been restrained to protect herself when she had to fix these people. The beatings, shock treatments, Dr. Blackwell was brutal when it came to making the ones who had newly discovered their powers learn to use them. Anna had to clean up those messes too. Anna had faced her own beating and tortures. Especially when it came to her newer power, Dr. Blackwell had wanted Anna to fix the protective armor so she couldn’t bypass it with her power. Anna barely knew how the power worked, and certainly not how to protect someone from it. Dr. Blackwell wouldn’t accept ‘I don’t know’ for an answer.

But this, this was trading one hell for another. Here she was isolated, afraid. The world was strange to her. Simple concepts, money, traveling, they seemed so complex because she didn’t totally understand them. The function sort of made sense, but going through all the motions, it seemed like so much trouble. A stranger in a strange land was what she had become now. Anna wasn’t sure which was worse. “So what now?” She finally asked. “And where is my father? I’d like to meet him. Maybe, ask him questions.”

There was a moment of silence, and Anna looked up at James. “He’s gone, Anna.” James finally replied in a soft voice. “There are many things you don’t understand about the world, but death is one of the things you do.”

Anger and tears welled up in Anna. “Why?” She practically yelled. “How could he do this to me? I learn something about myself and all I get is more questions. Why can’t he answer me? How could he leave me there in that place? If my uncle cared so much about me, why did he leave me there?” Anna began to sob “Do you know what I endured there, how much I suffered?”

James rebuked her “And caused an equal amount of suffering. You fought people who were only doing their jobs, in the name of your own rebellion. Certainly you patched them up, but you can’t take the pain they endured when you fought them, Anna.” Being scolded made Anna slide down into her chair and fall silent, He was right, even if she didn’t like it. “Talking to Marcus wouldn’t have helped you. He would have left you with more questions than answers. He didn’t tell people his motives. Perhaps he was no better than your mother. As for Maxwell, did you perhaps consider that he couldn’t act to assist you?”

She didn’t want to hear any of this, even if it was probably true. None of it made her pain, her suffering any less, even if she did bring some of it on herself. She wiped at her eyes. “So… I guess we’re back to my question. Now what?”

James shook his head. “You’ll only be safe here temporarily. After that, I don’t know. I won’t be able to help you anymore. I’m connected to this house. Perhaps you could say a part of it. They are coming, Anna. I know Vivian and Maxwell. They’ve mobilized, and they’re coming, for both of you. Why don’t you go meet with Alexandra? She’s upstairs, the third room on the right. I believe I will have another guest to attend to soon.” Anna nodded. She didn’t want to know who this guest was. She assumed however that it wouldn’t be anything good for her, or Lexi.

Maxwell walked in just in time to see Anna scurrying up the stairs. James appeared in the foyer shortly after. “I wondered when you’d show up. I suspected not long after you broke one of the protection spells on the house you’d worm your way in.”

Maxwell laughed as he looked James up and down “Oh please, Marcus. A butler? I’d never imagine you in a life of servitude to anything other than your own desires. Who do you believe you are fooling, anyway? I’d know you if you disguised yourself as a circus clown. I smell tea. Why don’t we sit down and talk like civilized people. Or I could fight you in some sort of magical duel, and likely attract the attentions of your daughters.”

This wasn’t good. If Maxwell could get in, Vivian would be able to batter down the defenses before long. “Very well, Maxwell. I had been entertaining your niece in the study, but she’s up to see your other niece. We can talk there. And this guise was not for your benefit. But for theirs” The two made their way to the study.

A wave of Marcus’s hand created another steaming cup of the same yellowish tea. “So how long have you kept up this charade, Marcus?” Maxwell sipped the tea that had been provided “Since your departed wife’s brother “killed” you? We both know you made yourself a part of this house shortly after she died. The body double was cute, though there was no need to torment Alexandra with it. This is excellent tea by the way, an herbal lemon, it always was a favorite.”

The compliment threw him off a moment, but Maxwell had intended that. Marcus just glared at his brother. “What is it you want, Maxwell. You’ve come into my home uninvited. Perhaps you came for your own daughter?” Maxwell looked at Marcus confused. “Oh, Vivian never told you? I’m not surprised. Though it shocks me you didn’t figure it out on your own. She’s listening right now. Why don’t you say hi to her?”

Maxwell was flabbergasted. It was rare Marcus could pull anything on him, but a daughter “What? What is this nonsense you’re on about Marcus? I don’t have time for your games.” Marcus just laughed. “Come now, Maxwell, we both know you had your wilder years. You didn’t think a child would come of it? She married shortly after your daughter was born, kept it a secret from you. Now let’s see where did you get off too? Ah there you are.” He gestured towards the tiny mouse-bot hiding under a book that leaned on the side of the bookcase.” Maxwell glanced at it, annoyed.

Continuing while Maxwell was still stunned, “When, I staged the accident that killed her adoptive parents, things, didn’t quite work the way I wanted. She wasn’t supposed to fall in with the crime syndicate. But this is why I brought in Vicki Reynolds, to free her from them, and put her back into my care. Her name is, Miss Lydia Thompson, or as you better knew her, Mouse. ”

Fuming, Mouse stormed out of her lab. That bastard, how dare he, and then tricked her into…. and with her cousin? She was sure he laughed his ass off about that behind her back. It was just sick and twisted in every sense of the word. The mouse-bot had sort of chosen Anna. She wasn’t sure why, but it wanted to hang around her. It was fine. It gave her a chance to watch over Anna, remotely, ready to move if anything went wrong. Mouse knew she needed a little more protection. Now, now she was going to pay that bastard back, in spades. She ran to her van, and started it up, she was only forty-five minutes from the house, and she was going to give him hell when she got there.

The levels of depravity seemed to know no end with Marcus. Then again he’d always been a sick twisted sack of shit. “And I’m sure you said that to make her angry enough to come here, fully ready to destroy you, only to use her to protect Alexandra and Anna, didn’t you?” Marcus laughed. “You could almost always predict my moves, Maxwell. She should get here about ten minutes before Vivian arrives, barring anything odd. But you’ve committed your own acts of, shall we say, depravity. Practically murdering Vicki Reynolds, helping bring her dead mentor and former lover back to life? Yes, hypocritical suits you well. It’s all an ends to a means, is it not Maxwell? You even went as far as to help Vivian to achieve her goals. A woman you have detested with every ounce of your being since you met her.”

Punching Marcus in the face would feel so good right about now, except the bastard was non-corporeal, and it wouldn’t do much of anything. “Fine, we’re both twisted assholes who use people. We’ve both murdered when we had to. The difference is you did it for your own benefit and…” James’s stare cut him off. “Please. Are you trying to defend The Company? The one that’s trying, right now to figure out exactly where this place is and plans assault it. Or are you here to betray them?”

Pausing to take a long deep breath, Maxwell calmed himself. He wasn’t going to let Marcus infuriate him. “Yes, Marcus. I have no doubts Vivian trusts me as far as she can throw me and is on her way here right now. We both know you can’t teach Alexandra. You knew that when you made her realize her powers even existed. Certainly, it was for good reason. It’s only because your own pride that you’ve not let me teach her even though you know damn well that like that you can’t do much but keep her locked up in your own prison. I made Vivian design something better than that hellhole she runs. I told her if Alexandra ends up in her little facility, there will be hell to pay.”

“And your other niece, Maxwell, will you abandon her to Vivian’s clutches, to endure what she has before, and now probably worse?” Maxwell fell silent a moment. “You know as well as I do Marcus, you have to pick your battles and fight them in the most effective ways. Vivian’s project has been a money pit since she started. The Company has funneled billions into her research, with no payoff. The military won’t touch her psychics. Who can blame them? One, it’s simply not practical. Sure they can lift a tank with their mind, torch or freeze people, but then they get shot and investment lost. Wars aren’t fought with ground troops anymore. They’re only there to clean up messes made after the fights.”

Maxwell continued “She’s very little success with the corporate market. Everyone wants spies, but telekinetics and pyrokinetics and such make horrible spies. Certainly her only technokinetic and her medium, along with her handful of telepaths would be snapped up, save for a few things, She’s got a whole slew of teenagers, and only a few that she can reasonably provide right now, and even then the corporations are worried that these kids will sell their secrets back to The Company. They’re probably right. Vivian has yet to produce useful results. Given time, I can have her shut her down. “

This just made Marcus smile. “In how long, Maxwell? Six months? A year? Ten years? As long as they believe she can produce results, even with all of the escapes and attempts, and as long as you keep making them so much money they can just throw it at her and then use it to lower the taxes they pay in, what do they care? Face it, You know you can’t protect Anna, so you’re just throwing her to the dogs.” Maxwell fell into another silence. He knew his brother was right. There had to be a better way.

The police would be attracted at this rate, but Mouse didn’t care about them. That bastard was alive, and he would pay. Tired screeched as she made a turn and continued to speed down the streets. The van wasn’t made to handle this kind of punishment, but she wasn’t an automotive expert. Her specialties lay in robotics and engineering, so she just had to make due with it being a normal van, that didn’t like being used as a sports car, and it would have to deal with it. He’d done this to her, he’d put her into the situations she was in. The normally timid Mouse was enraged and angry mice bit, hard.

She was fast approaching the house. She’d brought a small army of mouse-bots, with enough explosives to level four city blocks, and the mindset to use them. The old man would try to manipulate her again. It’s what he did. He was doing it now. The fact that Mouse knew it made her even angrier. He wanted her to be mad enough to come out of hiding. Something had happened, or was about to happen. He was drawing in reinforcements. Mouse’s mind raced with the possibilities, but only one came to mind, Alex.

It made more sense now, but even still, she’d have his ass. Protecting Alex was a no-brainer. Even with what happened, Mouse tried not to think about it. Damn him, and damn his manipulations. If she had to level that entire house she’d kill him. Alex needed to move anyway. As long as she stayed there, she was in that maniac’s grasp. Her cousin, her…. Mouse refused to think about it. What they had done and how amusing it all had to be him. Except it was all she could think about, no matter how hard she willed it otherwise, that was all that would come to mind. She wasn’t going to grant him the pleasure anymore. It was ending, today.

Anna had slipped up the stairs. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw someone come in. Whoever it was, she didn’t want to be seen, so she quickly scurried down the dark hallway. The house was doing it again, casting just enough light to see while creating that horrible ambience. “Why do you hate me so much?” She asked softly. “I didn’t want any of this to happen either. Lexi is the only friend I have in the world. I never wanted to hurt her.” Anna sighed. She was talking to a house.

A door next to Lexi’s room creaked open. Anna stared at it in disbelief. It was just the wind. It had to be. Doors don’t open by themselves. She looked at the door. It was heavy looking. There was no way the wind was moving that. She swallowed hard, and walked slowly towards the open door. She peeked in, expecting to see something out of one of those horror movies she’d seen. Pale ghostly people, zombies maybe, Alan could talk to ghosts. She wished he was here. The door opened further with a creak inviting her in as she peeked. Anna wanted to scream, but she didn’t want to upset Lexi. Somehow she held it in, placing both hands over her wide open mouth, which matched her widened eyes. Anna swallowed hard as she walked in, as far as she knew, her power didn’t work on ghosts, or crazy houses.

Once she was fully in the room the door slammed shut behind her. Anna turned and tried the knob, but it came off in her hand. She pounded on the door, screaming. “Let me out! Lexi! Please! I’m in here, next to you! Please help me! The house is going to eat me!” An ominous voice came from behind her. “She can’t hear you. No one can. It’s just you, and me.” Anna swirled around but didn’t see anyone. Her back pressed against the door, and her hands searched for a crack, a hole, anything she could pull at the door with. “Please… I didn’t want this” she begged on the verge of tears. “I didn’t know they could come.”

“Calm yourself child.” The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. “Had I wanted to hurt you, it would have been done long before now.” Anna slumped down, until she was in a seated position, her knees in front of her. It was worse here, worse than the facility. At least there, when they locked you in a room, you knew it wasn’t going to try to kill you. For the first time in her life, she wished she was in Level Zero. It felt safer than here.

Nothing happened for what seemed like an eternity. Anna found the courage to stand up and try the door again. The knob was still gone. She turned to look around. The room she was in was a woman’s bedroom. The walls were painted powder blue. The trim near the ceiling matched the bedspread on the quite large bed. Against the wall opposite the bed of the room was a dresser with a mirror. Several items rest on it, but the most prominent was a small wooden jewelry box with beautiful carvings on the outside. It was open, revealing, a purple velvet interior. Nothing was inside.

Anna spotted another door next to the bed. She rushed to it, only to find it was a walk in closet. Inside were beautiful dresses, mostly dark colors, red and black were the most common but a blue one peeked out occasionally. All of them were evening gowns. She wondered who would need so many. On the floor matching shoes were lined up, heels, flats, boots, all different colors and designs. She had the clothes she was wearing. It made her a little jealous.

At the back, all by itself was a unusual piece. It was almost as if a little shrine had been made to it, though why made no sense. It was a black leotard with glitter all over it. A black top hat rest near it, with a tube with white capped ends, black heels rest on the opposite side, and draped alongside the leotard was a pair of black pantyhose. None of this made sense. Why would anyone build a shrine to such a ridiculous outfit?

“It was hers.” The voice returned and Anna spun around. “W-Who are you?” She stammered. “I… I can hurt you, you know. You shouldn’t do this to me.” Her threat sounded empty. “You could no more hurt me, child, than you could hurt a brick wall.” Something shimmered near the bed. Anna didn’t want to go look, but the idea of being trapped in this closet somehow seemed worse than whatever may be out there.

A woman, or at least, the figure of a woman, sat on the edge of the bed. She was beautiful, but Anna was sure she was one of those ghosts Alan talked about. The woman was translucent, and seemed to have a wispy quality. The woman patted the bed. “Sit down, Anna. Before you see Alex, there is something I must share.” Anna wondered why everyone wanted to deliver bad news to her before getting to see her sister in person for the first time, and why she could even see this ghostly woman thing.

Figuring this nightmare would never end if she didn’t play along, Anna sat down, though not too close to the ghost. She looked it up and down. It was wearing an evening gown that obscured most of her form. The skirt of it flowed, blowing in a breeze that Anna couldn’t feel. “Alex is a very special girl, Anna, as are you.” The ghost began. Her voice was much less, ominous now. It was quiet, soft, sort of what Anna might expect a ghost to sound like, at least when it wasn’t running around moaning or howling.

It didn’t seem so menacing now, as the ghost looked into Anna’s green eyes, with her own sad gaze. “Like you, Alex has led a very sheltered life. I tried to expose her to things, but…” She looked down, failure written on her face. “She was doomed to take my place. At least until, my husband went, not quite insane, perhaps paranoid is the best way to describe it. These people you’re dealing with Anna. They will not hesitate to kill, to destroy, whatever they must do to reach their goal.” She raised her head again and looked back into Anna’s eyes “Do not be like them.”

The ghostly woman seemed to shimmer. “I do not have much time. Already, your cousin, Mouse, is coming. Her anger will be the catalyst that breaks the spell. The more sorrow, the more pain that comes here, the harder it is to maintain the protections on this house. Call it, poetic justice if you will. To protect his daughter, Marcus had to do the one thing he never could. Create happiness. His web of lies and deceit became even more tangled when he brought Mouse and Vicki Reynolds into it. He thought they could make Alex happy. Temporarily, they did. But as with all of Marcus’s grand schemes, this too fell apart. He never learned he can’t control people.”

It began to reach out to touch her cheek, and Anna wanted to shrink away but couldn’t. The touch was, surprising warm and gentle. “You, might have been able to save things, if it weren’t already too late. Alex got to be your hero. She saved you, and that made her happy. She was doing things, for someone else, good things, because it was in her power to help them. Only her escapades into your dreams upset Mouse. Not because Mouse wished ill on you, but because the physical reactions from the dreams caused Alex to harm Mouse. She flailed and squeezed Mouse, because Marcus had convinced them to love each other in ways that cousins should not. The joy that could have sustained the house was destroyed by the failing relationship. That too was another of his grand schemes that backfired.”

The hand fell away from Anna’s face and back into the woman’s lap, as did the ghostly woman’s gaze. “Even seeing you, won’t be enough now, too much damage has been done already to be repaired. You and Alex will have to flee this place. I don’t know where you can go. But you must run, far away, and quickly. They will be here soon. I can already feel Mouse’s rage coming close. If my husband is right, Vivian won’t be far behind. Go through the basement, there will be a passage that leads outside. Run down that passage, and as far away as you can.”

With that the ghost, the lights, everything faded. Anna found herself back in the hallway, standing in front of Alexandra’s door. The hallway was still dimly lit. Was any of that real? The heavy door to the room next to Alex’s was tightly shut. Anna didn’t think it would be wise to test her nerves any further today. Someone was yelling downstairs. Things were going from bad to worse, quickly. Anna reached up and knocked on Lexi’s door.

Miriam was fuming. Not only had Scott lost the cab, but Alan’s ghost had refused to go anywhere near, wherever it was it had gone, nor would it say why. She had parked the van near the last known coordinates of the cab. It had just fallen off the map here. She heard the screeching of tires, of a vehicle far too unwieldy to be driven like it was. It seemed to protest this pushing of its limits. It was a grey van driven by a small black haired woman that worse glasses. She was tearing down the street like a bat out of hell. Vivian drummed her fingers on the dashboard, and then something sparked.

Quickly grabbing the headset she was keeping in contact with base with, she barked into it. “Scott! I need visuals on those cohorts of the Dangor girl and as much as you can tell me about them.” Two images came up on her laptop. An older woman that dressed like an escapee from a Sam Spade movie, which was Vicki Reynolds, and a much younger one, who met the description of the person she’d seen tearing down the street moments ago. Mouse, she was an inventor of the highest caliber and a security expert. “Steven, follow that maniac. I have a feeling she’s going to lead us right to Marcus’s door.” She barked into the headset “Scott, keep a GPS tracker on that grey van that just blew past us. I want to know where it’s going 5 minutes before it gets there!”

A mumbled affirmative was her answer. She didn’t really care how much Scott didn’t like tracking down Anna. He would do this for her, or he would be losing a lot more than the privileges granted for his normal obedience. Miriam ordered the second van to follow behind her. It didn’t take them long to reach the place. Miriam looked at the old wrought iron gates which had been left wide open. “Yes, overly dramatic. Just like you Marcus. This must be the place. Steven, I want you to take half the men from van 2 and circle around back. If I know Marcus he’ll have some sort of escape route there. He always used to think his escape artist act was clever. I’ll take Jennifer and the rest and go in from the front.”

The teams split up, and Miriam raced down the path, jerking the collared Jennifer behind her with a cord that was attached to the restraint around the teenaged girl’s neck. “Give me any trouble, or disobey an order…” Miriam pushed a button on a remote and an electric shock made the girl scream and fall to her knees. “There’ll be far worse than that to come. Now get up and do what I tell you.” She waved at her men to fan out. They had orders to subdue, not kill Anna and Alexandra Dangor. Anyone else was expendable.

Mouse kicked in the front doors, and began yelling “Marcus Dangor! You bastard! I know you’re here.” A small army of little mechanical mice followed behind her. “Show yourself.” The image of James appeared before her. “Miss Mouse, there is no need for this behavior” Mouse glared at James. “Stuff it. Tell me where that bastard is. I have no….” She paused as Maxwell walked out of the hallway

Maxwell spoke with an eloquent, but mocking tone “Don’t stop on my account, Mouse. You have no problems with blowing the place to bits until you found him, perhaps?” Mouse shook with rage. Maxwell pointed at James “He’s right in front of you. Do your worst, if you like, but I think you’ll find your mice, while very impressive, won’t do much to him. He’s part of this place now. Even if you destroyed it, as long as a pile of ash remained, he would still be here.”

She refused to believe it. He was going to deny her this too. “How could you?” She screamed at him. “You fucking bastard. You knew… all along you knew. Was it some sort of colossal joke to you?” Mouse fell to her knees as tears rolled down her eyes, pouring out like a fountain. “Screwing with mine and her emotions, when were going to tell us? Huh? When you fucking bastard?”

Walking over to the young woman with a sigh Maxwell began to speak again “He had his reasons, Mouse. Even if his methods were, self destructive” Maxwell glared back at Marcus “His intents, as odd as it sounds, were good. Or at least self-serving in a… good way” No there was no putting a positive spin on this. It was too twisted. Maxwell kneeled down next to Mouse, and put a hand under her chin, gently lifting her head. “Come now, you have such a pretty face. I don’t want my first time laying eyes on my daughter, marred by seeing her cry.”

Mouse wasn’t certain if she should slap him, hug him, or just struggle away from his soft grip. She was defeated. Everything she had come for was taken away from her. All she could do was sit there, on her knees, and look into this man’s eyes. “It does make sense now, you know. You have my talents. Your abilities mirror mine exactly. Your designs are pure genius, even if you couldn’t build some of them yourself. I built them for you. I can show you everything. But right now we have bigger troubles. A woman is coming, and she’ll kill us all to get at Alex and Anna.”

No. No. No. She knew it was going to be like this. She hadn’t expected it from her ‘father’ but she knew it was coming. Yet what else could she say? No. Refuse to help someone she cared so deeply about? A little chttering mouse-bot bounded up the stairs. “That’s my AI.” She managed to mumble. Maxwell smiled “I know. I’m very proud of you. I think it plans to help Anna and Alex in its own way. We have to help her in ours. Vivian probably followed you here, so she’s not far behind. I think you know what to do. I’ll back you up, father and daughter together. Your workshop and command center was down this way wasn’t it?” He pointed down the left hallway, and Mouse nodded. “Good, you can show me the new designs when we get out this alive.”

Alexandra looked up, as there was a knock on her door. “I’m not hungry, James.” She whispered. She didn’t care if he could hear her or not. He probably could. James could do a lot of things he shouldn’t be able to. The knock came again. Alex sighed. James was being persistent. “Go away, James!” She yelled at the door. She threw a pillow at it, more out of frustration than anything. There was a third knock, and Alex had had enough. James wasn’t going to be satisfied until she answered the door, so she may as well give him what he wanted. She stormed over to the door.

The shock of what Alex saw as she opened the door left her stunned. It was the girl, Anna, from her dream. The one she had saved, but how? Why was she here? “A-Anna?” Anna nodded quickly and grabbed her arm. “I really wanted more time to talk to you, Lexi, but we have to go.” Anna said apologetically. An explosion resounded from somewhere outside. “W-What? What’s going on Anna?” Anna shook her head and began to drag Alex down the hallway. “There’s no time to explain. We have to go!” A little chittering mouse-bot came up behind them, and headbuttted Alex’s leg.

Glancing down, Alex recognized the robot. At least, she knew who had made it. “That’s Mouse’s. But…” It headbutted her ankle again, chattered angrily, and then began to run down the hallway. “It wants us to follow, Lexi. They’ve come for both of us. We have to run.” Alex began to protest “But, I don’t have my shoes on, and Anna why are you here, and?” Anna wasn’t wasting time. She began to drag Alex again. “Just run, Lexi!” Another series of explosions from downstairs rocked the house, which motivated Alex to run. She didn’t know what was going on, but it sounded like war downstairs.

The hallway began to light up, beckoning them on. “What’s happening, Anna?” Anna shook her head “There’s a lot to tell you and no time to do it all in. I wish there were. For now, we have to get out of here. As they passed, each lamp went out, leaving only darkness behind them. The mouse stopped at a door, and put its metallic paws on it, chittering angrily at the door as if it expected it to open. “Oh come on. We’re upstairs…” Anna cut herself off. Nothing about this house made sense. Why shouldn’t this lead to the basement?

She opened the door to see, surprise, yet another dark passage. Behind them was only blackness. “Does your house have a flair for the dramatic or something?” Anna asked annoyed, not really expecting an answer. Alex just looked at her confused. “Just come on, Lexi.” Anna pulled a confused Alex into the stairwell. The door closed behind them, and torches on the walls lit up, showing them the path. Anna shook her head “Oh, come on, stop being ridiculous.” She’d had about enough of the house’s antics.

Twisting and turning, the staircase seemed to go on forever. Only the metallic skittering of the mouse-bot’s paws assured them there was something ahead besides empty space. Finally the stairs ended into a doorway. Anna hastily opened it and ran down the hallway beyond, continuing to tow Alex behind her. A sharp piece of metal lay on the ground, glinting in the torchlight. Anna snatched it, and felt it cut into her fingers. Well at least if there was trouble, she had the means to fight back.

The hallway ended at a short staircase and another door. Anna opened it, quickly, and ran outside into the cool night air. Anna spotted movement out of the corner of her eye, and quickly sliced her arm with the metal piece. “Anna, what are you doing?” Alex cried in shock and horror, as Anna rushed towards the figure she’d seen. As a face became visible, Anna felt a new wave of fear. “Steven!” She cried. It was the last sound she made before she was encased in a block of ice, frozen in a pose of trying to shield her face from what she knew was coming. Alex turned to run, but slipped on the wet grass. “I’m sorry, cutie.” Steven apologized before he held out a hand and Alex too was encased in ice. “It’s my job. Maybe when we get back, things will be different”.

Men were flying around like ragdolls as explosions came from sources Miriam couldn’t locate. They couldn’t be landmines, the explosions weren’t patterned they seemed to seek out her men. A telekinetic shield saved Miriam and the girl behind her from a similar fate as her broken men. Miriam could see the quivering shards of some sort of robot. A metal mouse head, confirmed her fears. This was Mouse’s work. “Damn it.” She cursed. “Jennifer, keep that shield up or we’re both dead.” She ordered as she started to walk towards the house. Another explosion rocked the shield, and then another. How many of those infernal robots did Mouse have?

“Dr. Blackwell,” A weakened voice came from behind Miriam. “I can’t hold it much longer. It’s too much.” Miriam wanted very much to make Jennifer pay for failing her, but right now wasn’t the time. She could see three more of the infernal robots daring her to come any closer. “Fine. We go back.” Her talents couldn’t protect her from those things. Miriam scanned the yard. None of her men seemed to still be standing, or even in one piece.

Damn that girl, she wasn’t supposed to be here. What was going to happen next, Vicki Reynolds popping up behind her to press a gun to her head? A voice crackled on her headset. “I have them. We can’t get the van back here. Something keeps exploding and killing the men.” Miriam smiled “Hold your position.” She turned back to Jennifer. “If I die here, you die. So I recommend you protect me with everything you’ve got. Touch the remote, and you’ll experience the most horrible pain you’ve ever felt in your life.” With that Miriam slumped into Jennifer’s arms.

A spirit slipped past the robots, and stood before Marcus who was in the foyer watching the carnage. “So Vivian, you actually left your body. I’m impressed. How long has it been since you last did that?” Miriam narrowed her eyes. “Cut the crap, Marcus. I have both of them. Unless you’d like to see them both shattered into little frozen bits, I recommend you call off your little inventor girl.” Marcus closed his eyes a moment, searched with his mind, then frowned and nodded. “You win. For now, Vivian. But rest assured, should anything happen to my daughter…”

Miriam sneered. “You’ll do what Marcus? Animate your house to come after me? You’d be lucky to get a shutter moving in the state you’re in. You’ve never cared about them before. Or did you only mean your precious little Alexandra? Anna can rot for all you care? Since she wasn’t born from that woman?” The spiritual energy that was Marcus slapped Miriam across the face. Miriam grinned. “Did I touch a nerve, Marcus? She’ll be trained, and kept safely, just like you did to her. Your precious little songbird locked in her gilded cage. It’s really not all that much different from how you treated her. She’ll feel right at home.” Her tone was mocking, but Marcus knew she would hold to her threats of killing the girls rather than lose them. He was defeated. “I’ll tell them.”

The ghostly forms dissipated. The explosions ceased as Marcus relayed the news. Mouse looked at Maxwell. “We can’t let them go! You see what they did to Alex! We’re winning this. We can still save her! I can go out there and…” Maxwell put a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “All you’ve done is cost Vivian soldiers, Mouse. She cares nothing about them, about that boy out there, or that girl whose life is tied to that cord Vivian is holding. As long as she has what she wants, she’ll kill every one of them to get out of here with it. And she would go scorched earth on us, Mouse. She would kill them just to get her own little twisted victory out of it. We have to let her go, for now.”

It was rare Mouse ever wanted to punch anything. Physical violence wasn’t her thing. But now, she wanted to hit someone, something, even if it wouldn’t change things it would make her feel better. “Now what?” She slumped back in her chair. “We let them go? Lose Alex and Anna to her?” Maxwell shook his head. “Not lose, Mouse. We can get them back. We just need time.”

After Vivian making Jennifer load the two frozen girls into the van, she turned and slapped Steven across the face, hard enough to send him spinning to the ground. “What’s wrong with you? You could have killed them. And they may still die.” Only Jennifer saw the little mouse-bot hop onto the bumper of the van and then scramble inside. It was like the others she had seen exploding earlier, but this one seemed different, though she wasn’t sure how she knew that. It could be hers, Anna’s, and this new girl’s salvation. Miriam turned back to Jennifer. “Crack the ice. Carefully. I’ll turn on the van’s heater. Steven, you drive. If they lose so much as a finger or a toe, both of you will pay for this.”

Anna woke, shivering. It was dark. The floor was cold and steel, and she was soaked. Level Zero. She was back there. Lexi? Where was Lexi? It hurt to move, but her body was burning it off slowly. That’s what it did, heal her at abnormally fast rates. Even from hypothermia. Lexi didn’t have that luxury. Being flash frozen and thawed out could still kill her. Anna pawed around until she felt a stocking clad leg. Lexi was in a state of shock. She could feel Lexi’s mind had retreated. Her breathing was shallow. She’d die if Anna didn’t take the damage done with her power. It might kill her to do so, but it was better than Lexi dying. At least Anna’s body stood a chance. It only took a moment, then Anna slumped to the ground, her skin turned a bluish hue, and she faded into unconsciousness.

Cold and wet, Alex awoke, shivering, in a corner of a dark room. She couldn’t see anything. “Hello?” She called out. “Please, is there anyone out there?” Outside one of two men in the standard black armored uniforms spoke into the headset installed in his helmet. “Ma’am, you told us to inform you as soon as one of them woke. The new arrival is awake. Anna hasn’t made any noise yet.”

Stroking her chin, Miriam considered what was likely to have happened. Anna’s body would have healed her hypothermia much quicker, but not this fast. She could have murdered Stephen for that, and may still yet. If he hadn’t left them air holes, and they hadn’t managed to get them out of that ice as fast as they did, both girls would have been dead on the spot. They were barely hanging on when she got them out of the icy tombs and blankets wrapped around them. Stephen’s reward was his own cell on Level Zero for that stunt. Endangering the lives of her prizes, for no good reason wasn’t acceptable.

Still this meant at least one was alive. Anna probably assumed she was more likely to survive a second bout with hypothermia, than Alexandra was with her one. “Get Anna into a warm bath, take Alexandra to get a uniform, and give her a room on the first floor.” An affirmative response came through the intercom on her desk. Miriam sipped her coffee. Maxwell was going to be furious. She wasn’t real sure where he was during all that, but she doubted it was assisting her in any way. It didn’t matter now. She had the ultimate prize, a power to rival Marcus Dangor’s own, and the daughter of that woman, the one who had taken Marcus away from her and The Company. Even if it meant taking revenge through Marcus’s daughter, Miriam would have vengeance. She would make this girl serve her, willingly.

Alex blinked and shielded her face, as her eyes were forced to rapidly adjust to the light pouring in from the now open door. She was jerked to her feet and led down a hallway. “No trouble from you” came a warning from one of the helmeted guards. Alex wasn’t certain what was going on, but she couldn’t cause problems now. Anna was around here somewhere. She would find her, and they would escape together.

In a stern voice Maxwell began to speak “Gather up your designs and your things, Mouse. We’re leaving. We need nothing more here. Vivian expects me to make an appearance anytime now. So I’ll indulge her. In the meantime…” he handed Mouse a piece of paper with an address. “You might want to track down your friend Vicki as well. We’re going to need all the experienced manpower we can get. Go there once you’ve got your stuff.” Maxwell pulled a small remote control looking device out of his jacket. He turned to look at his daughter, with a loving smile. “Later, I’ll teach you, so you can make things like this too.” He pushed a button, and a portal opened before him. Maxwell turned and stepped in.

A flash of light announced Maxwell’s arrival. Miriam didn’t look up from some papers she was working on “Took you long enough. And where have you been while I was out procuring some lost merchandise?” Maxwell’s gut turned. He’d done some terrible things in his life, but human beings were never, merchandise. Certainly he had purchased lives, but they got something back out of it. Money, job security, a better life, all they had to do was do favors for him now and again. This, this was sick.

His lips curled into a snarl. “Keeping Marcus distracted enough for you to do it. Where is Alexandra, Vivian?” Miriam didn’t look up from her paperwork. “She’s being fitted for a uniform.” She said calmly, as if she was talking about something as casual as what to have for breakfast. Maxwell hated it when Vivian did this. She was trying to get to him. It was working. He swept the papers off her desk and pounded his fist down in front of Miriam with a thud, and cracking of wood “That wasn’t the agreement, Vivian!” He yelled at her. “When I gave you my technology, my funds, you agreed not to put her into your little hellhole.”

She looked up at Maxwell as if he were a child throwing a tantrum. She spoke down to him in the same manner “Whose money, Maxwell? Who’s technology? You know very well both belong to The Company. As do you and I. You gave me nothing but your cooperation. I have no obligations to you, to honor deals. I could have demanded and received the same cooperation. It was just better to have you doing it willingly. Now, get out of my office, Maxwell. And send someone to replace my desk.”

That was the last straw, however if he attacked her here, he would lose everything. He slipped a bug on the underside of her desk as he yelled more at her. It provided the perfect distraction. Vivian sighed and put her pen down. The paperwork was scattered all over the office anyway. “Would you like me to call the home office, Maxwell? Have them tell you themselves I have authorization to do with the Dangor girl as I wish? Or are you going to get out of my office now?” Maxwell snarled “You’ve not heard the end of this, Vivian. Not by a long shot.”

Making a shooing motion at him with her hand “Maxwell, I have real work to do. Go play with your toys.” Maxwell walked out of the office and ported out of the facility. It had worked perfectly and the condescending little pest of a woman was none the wiser. All it cost him was irritation. She didn’t suspect he’d planted a listening device in her office, a very special one. It would detach itself from the desk and slowly work its way around the room, cloning itself, as well as tiny cameras, giving him full surveillance of her office within the hour. He would know every time she sneezed. Since the only technokinetic in her facility was Scott, it would be easy to make sure Vivian had no idea she was being watched. He just had to patch that hole.

Scott frowned at Alan. Alan had been sulking on his couch ever since they had gotten word back that Anna had been recaptured. “Alan, are you going to leave anytime soon? Don’t you have your own new room to explore? I’m sure you could request Anna to be your partner.” Not that he’d expected Alan to answer. Dr. Blackwell had rewarded Alan’s assistance in the recapture of Anna, by moving him up to the fourth floor.

The facility was tiered. Level Zero was the detention center. The first floor was for new recruits. They stayed there until they learned to behave themselves. There wasn’t much to do, and the rooms were barren of much besides a bed. Few people spent long on the first floor unless they were being punished. The second floor, where Anna had lived since, she was born more or less, was for the unruly, but not completely disobedient members, like Anna would be, again, once she recovered.

The third floor housed the obedient, but not completely loyal members. They had more freedoms, free time periods where they could watch television, and socialize. However strict rules were enforced about where they could go, and when they could do this. Disobedience resulted in lack of privileges. The fourth floor where Scott, and now Alan lived, was the floor for the obedient, and loyal residents. They had much more free time, and were allowed companions from the lower floors if they wished. They were often expected to mentor the lower tier residents and teach them that if they cooperated then they wouldn’t be constantly punished and even rewarded for good behavior.

The fifth floor was reserved for the elite. Steven, until recently had held residence on the fifth floor. While the fourth floor, domiciles were nice, like small apartments, the ones on the fifth floor were like penthouse suites. Fifth floor residents were the examples of leadership and could select any companion from anyone but the other fifth floor members, unless the two of them willingly got together of their own accord. They had the most luxuries, free time, and the most to lose. It was hard to make it to the top and failure was not expected or tolerated from these elite few.

Scott turned back to his computer as an email notification popped up in the corner. “I hear the new girl is cute. Maybe you could ask for her, if one of the elite doesn’t snap her up first.” Alan was not amused. “I betrayed Anna, Scott.” Scott sighed. “Alan, did you ever stop to consider maybe she’s better off here? Anna doesn’t know the outside world like you do. You were brought in from the outside. Like me, she was born and raised here. The difference is that I have seen the outside world, granted through the net, but I do get contact with it. She got her first crash course in it when Mary abandoned her.”

As Scott read his new email he laughed softly. “And you may get your chance to redeem yourself. Seems Mr. Maxwell isn’t happy. Dr. Blackwell betrayed him. I did notice the new devices in her office, I’d wondered about them. Mr. Maxwell wants me to leave them alone and not mention them to Dr. Blackwell.” Scott shrugged. He liked it here fine, even if he didn’t always agree with Dr. Blackwell’s methods. However he wasn’t going to get involved in any power struggles between the higher ups. He was just as happy to stay out of it and claim the tech was beyond anything he could sense or control. Some of Mr. Maxwell’s tech was like that, anyway, so no one could prove otherwise.

Alan sat up like a bolt. “What? What do you know, Scott?” Scott shrugged. “Mr. Maxwell and Dr. Blackwell are fighting again. And I don’t mean the usual tiffs. I mean a power struggle. I suspect it has something to do with Anna and this new girl.” Alan was excited. He could redeem himself in Anna’s eyes. Maybe even win her over. “I think I have a project for Julie.” Scott glanced up to see Alan finally leaving his room. Good, now he could get back to more important matters, like getting his Warlock to level 100 in Mythical Might, the biggest online game on the planet.

Rushing back to his room, Alan called on the ghost that hung around him the most. A spirit named Julie. She was a sixteen year old girl, had just gotten her license and on her first night out was killed in a drunk driving accident. She was nice, though not the prettiest girl on the planet, or the afterlife. Alan suspected she had a crush on him since she would do pretty much anything he asked of her. Once inside his room, he spotted Julie sitting on his bed “Julie, I need a favor.”

She gave a disappointed look. “Aww. I thought we could celebrate your new room together. Just you and me” Alan turned away and rolled his eyes. She was at it again. “There’s a new girl. On level 1, she’ll be very lonely. Could you keep an eye on her for me?” Julie looked at him suspiciously. “You don’t like her do you?” Yeah, she was in that mood again. Julie had always been jealous of Anna, she’d seen Alan staring at Anna from afar, or when they talked Alan’s desperation to win this girl sometimes came through. She kept telling him if Anna couldn’t see how great he was she wasn’t good enough for her Alan. “I don’t even know her, Julie. Come on now, please? I’m sure she’s very scared by herself. For me?” That always worked. Julie agreed when Alan promised he’d spend time with her later.

Alex was given what looked to be a school uniform. “Put it on.” She was ordered by one of the guards. “But… there’s no place to change and…” She was cut off as he shoved what seemed to be a cattle prod into her stomach, and her protest earned her a severe shock. Alex fell to her knees, screaming from the pain. “Put it on.” He repeated. Alex was a modest woman. Changing clothes in front of people made her uncomfortable. “Could you at least turn around” The guard brought the cattle prod to bear and Alex backed off with her hands up. “Ok… please… not again.” She pleaded.

It was pure torture for her. Undressing in front of these creeps, she turned her back to them as she put on the white blouse she had been given. It buttoned up in the front. She’d been wondering how she was ok after being frozen solid, what seemed like only an hour ago. “Is Anna ok?” She asked as she dropped the shirt she had been wearing. “No questions. Just put on your uniform.” She looked at the rest of the uniform on its hangers. A black pleated miniskirt, and black pantyhose, there were some ballet flats to complete the uniform.

Shivers went up her spine as she started to take off her own skirt. She felt horrible and wanted to cry, but was afraid if she did they’d zap her with those cattle prods again. She just complied with soft whimpers. Once she was dressed the guards led her to a room. The walls were a pale white. The only features in the room were a small bed, and a overhead light. The room was barely big enough to be called a closet. She was pushed inside, and as she caught her balance the door was shut and locked behind her.

Alex whirled around and banged on her door with her fists. “Please tell me what’s going on. Where is Anna? Why are you doing this to me?” The guard outside sighed. He hated this. So many kids were brought in here, and most of them reacted the same way. They wanted their parents, to be set free, to know why they were in there. They all quieted down after a while. But this was his job, to keep her in there until Dr. Blackwell said she could come out. Before this, he’d been lying in a gutter, a homeless drunk. A man named Maxwell, had changed his life. Given him this job, he was paid well, had food and shelter, and a lot of fringe benefits if he wanted them. But he couldn’t help feeling sorry for these poor kids.

After a few minutes of no one answering her, Alex flopped down on the bed. If they hadn’t answered by now they weren’t going to, and hitting the door hurt, metal doors tend not to give way when hit by nineteen year old girls. She wasn’t sure if she should cry now, or just be angry at the situation, or both. Her powers weren’t working. She willed something, anything to happen. The door to open, try to sense the guard outside, something. Things James had taught her to do, but none of it was working.

Julie floated down into the room, seeing the cute, older girl for the first time. She was definitely not going to tell Alan about this girl. She didn’t seem that different from the others Dr. Blackwell had locked into one of these closets. She was scared, angry, and confused. “Hi.” Julie offered. She didn’t expect a response, no one but Alan ever heard her. Julie was shocked when the girl rolled over and looked at her. “Who are you?” Alex asked, nervously. More ghosts? They had them here too? James had explained a while back he was something like a ghost. He was, a construct of the house is how he put it.

This took Julie a moment to recover from. “You can see me?” Alex nodded. “My, butler, he was a ghost, sort of. He could touch things though, so many not so much like a ghost, but, I could see him.” She said as if this explained everything. Julie floated down. “Can I sit?” She pointed at the bed. Alex shrugged, it couldn’t hurt, and she was company, if odd company. The guard outside shook his head, the kid had gone loopy already. She was having a one sided conversation with herself, something about ghost butlers.

“It’s kinda nice to have a girl to talk to.” Julie admitted. At first she’d been skeptical of this new girl, Alan had an interest in, and then denying that he did. She seemed nice, but she was entirely too cute. “What’s your name? I’m Julie.” Julie asked. “Alexandra, but people usually call me Alex. Anna calls me Lexi. Hmm… do you know Anna?” Julie frowned at the mention of Anna, her arch-rival. As she thought about Anna, she noticed this new girl looked a lot like Anna. That was no good either. “She’s a friend.” Alex continued and then her face turned to a saddened look. “They got her too when they caught me. I hope she’s ok. I think she took my hypothermia. But she can’t have recovered from her own, not that fast. I’m really worried about her.”

There were a lot of things Julie wished on Anna. Death wasn’t one of them. “I could go look for you?” Julie offered. “It wouldn’t take long.” Alex beamed with a bit of hope. “Could you? I’d really appreciate it.” Julie had to admit, it took a lot for someone to be worried about someone else in this situation. She had to admire Alex for that. “She’s probably in the little hospital they have here. I’ll go find her.” With that Julie flew through the door, and was off, leaving Alex alone again.

Finding Anna hadn’t taken long. She was wrapped up in a blanket, and had been given something hot to drink. Her skin was pale, but she looked well enough otherwise. She was shivering a lot. Then again Julie considered, if she had been frozen, she’d probably be shivering a lot too. “That was damn stupid of you, Anna. You could have died.” That was Rebecca. Julie liked Rebecca even less than Anna. Anna was at least kind. Rebecca was Dr. Blackwell’s other prize empathic healer, even if she wasn’t half as good as Anna was, she behaved better, well outwardly anyway.

Anna coughed. “She’s my sister. I won’t let her die.” Rebecca pushed Anna into a bed. “Hush. You’re delusional. Give your body time to rest. We all know you don’t have a sister.” Anna tried to protest this but Rebecca gave her a sedative. “I almost wish you had died, you rotten little skank,” Rebecca whispered over Anna’s body once the sedative kicked in. “If I thought I could get away with it, I’d kill you myself.” With that she walked out of the room. Julie stuck out her tongue at Rebecca as she left. If either of them deserved to die, it was her. Julie would take personal pleasure in making her life miserable once Rebecca joined her in the afterlife.

Shortly after, Julie flew back to Alex’s room with a report about Anna. “She’s going to be ok. She’s sleeping now.” Julie left out the part about the sedative and the threat. No sense in upsetting Anna’s friend. “If there’s one thing that sets Anna apart from the other healers it’s her regenerative properties. She said something odd. She said she wouldn’t let her sister die. Are you her sister?” They did look something alike, but it could be a fluke. Alex shook her head. “I don’t have a sister. I’m an only child.” Julie thought maybe Anna was delusional after all, probably an after effect. No sense in mentioning that either.

The two talked a while until a guard came and delivered food. Alex was kept back under threat of cattle prod, as a covered plate was sat on the floor. The guard who had brought her the food entered and exited without saying a word. The food wasn’t much, a sandwich and a bottle of water. But it was more than Alex had to eat all day. Julie watched her for a moment “The indignities stop once they let you onto the upper floors. You get better food too. You get treated more like a person than an inmate.”

Food seemed more important than the nuances of the facility so Julie let Alex eat. It was hardly satisfying, but it was better than nothing. “Do you want me to stay a little longer?” She asked. Alex shook her head. “I feel sleepy. But I’m glad you came. Could you come again soon?” They had probably drugged Alex’s food. They did that sometimes, usually when they planned on moving someone, or taking them to a training room. After saying she’d be glad to come back, she watched Alex fall asleep then floated back to Alan’s room.

A quick report later told Alan about Anna’s and this new girl, Lexi’s, status. “She seems very nice, if lonely.” Julie wasn’t sure why she added that last part. Maybe it was because she didn’t see Alex as a threat the way she did Anna. “She was very calm about being locked up. Most of the time, they scream rant for at least an hour and then cry a while. She couldn’t have been in there more than fifteen minutes when I found her already quiet and on the bed. She wasn’t crying or anything. Oh, and they drugged her before I left. I didn’t want to see them hurt her.” Alan nodded, assuring Julie that was ok and that he didn’t want to know about that either. “We can find her later if they move her. They’re probably going to test her powers. I wonder what kind she has.”

“Well she could see me, and talk to me.” Julie offered. “Maybe she’s like you.” That too, made her wonder why she said it. Pointing out similarities between this new girl and Alan wasn’t help things. Fortunately he didn’t seem to notice. “Anna also said Lexi was her sister. That’s the girl’s name, weill it’s Alexandra but Anna calls her Lexi. But Lexi said Anna wasn’t her sister.” Julie paused letting Alan take all this in. It was a lot of information, and she had been talking rapidly.

“Anna was under Becca’s care. She should be ok though” Even Julie got a bad taste in her mouth from saying that name. Alan didn’t look much more pleased about his unrequited love in Rebecca’s hands. “Well there’s nothing we can do now but wait.” Alan didn’t like this, but what choice did he have. Anna was at least recovering. She’d be fine in a few hours. This new girl had been very interesting to Dr. Blackwell for some reason. She actually left the facility to go after her. Anything that important had to be worth knowing about.

Alexandra awoke to find herself strapped to a metal chair. Her shoes had been taken off, and she was in a most unladylike position, her legs spread while wearing a short skirt. The room looked like an execution chamber, complete with electric chair. Alex whimpered and tears began to form, were they going to kill her already? In front of her was a large pane of glass separating her from a seated, older woman in a lab coat. A microphone in front of her lead to a panel Alex couldn’t see very well. The woman adjusted her glasses. “Do you know what your powers are?”

Nodding only earned her a mild electric shock. Alex clenched her jaw when the pain came. She stammered “I have a lot of powers.” The woman on the other side checked her notes, looked at Alexandra. Looked back at the notes, then pressed a button and talked to someone. A man in a lab coat walked into the room, and the woman pointed at Alex, then the notepad, and seemed to ask a lot of confused questions. The man left after talking to her, waving his arms while explaining whatever it was, mostly likely about her powers. Alex was too afraid to ask.

A phone rang in Miriam’s office. She sighed and picked it up “What is it now?” She asked annoyed. “Yes, the girl does have all those powers. She knows how to use them already. There’s no need for testing. Why isn’t she on level two already? I gave strict orders to put her there immediately, not on testing block. Feed her a pill and put her in a room. Then bring her some food, something nice, to tantalize her with. Tell her what she could have if she obeys.” Those incompetent idiots, she only kept them on because they were the only scientists The Company would give her. They were just following regular procedure. Regular procedure was going to scare Anna. She’d have to make some adjustments. This, after all, was a very special case.

Back in the training room, one of Alex’s arm restraints was released. Not that they needed to release her, Alex could have gotten herself out anytime she wanted. It had just seemed like a really bad idea. A small metal tray on a thin arm extended out to her. On it was a round blue pill. “Take the pill. Swallow it.” Alex looked at it suspiciously, and then received another shock. She cried out in pain. “Take the pill. Swallow it.” The woman repeated the instructions in a monotone. Alex didn’t want another shock so she followed directions. The pill made her drowsy.

Mouse arrived at the address. It was a small apartment on the far side of town. She knocked on the door. There was no answer. A piece of paper under the floor mat just jutting out caught her eye. She pulled it out. “The key is in the flowerpot.” Mouse looked around. If by flowerpot, Maxwell had meant that small tree by the door that wasn’t what she had in mind when he said flowerpot. But it was the only thing resembling a flowerpot around, so Mouse dug around in it. A few moments later she had dirty hands, and a small brass house key. She unlocked the door, and set her things down on a nearby table, before going to wash her hands.

Glancing around, the apartment wasn’t much. Then again, this came from a girl who had lived on the streets, in a warehouse, and in a lavish, if creepy, house that one month’s mortgage payment or the property taxes alone would have cost her the same amount as hundreds of her mouse robots if not more. The first order of business was to track down Vicki, It shouldn’t be hard. Mouse had her cell and her email. Vicki had been looking for her anyway.

In her apartment, Vicki glanced at her ringing cell phone. Probably another client, but the ring tone wasn’t her business one. She quickly grabbed the phone, and looked at the display. It read ‘Mouse’. “Mouse!” Vicki yelled into the phone as she flicked it open. “I’ve been worried sick!” Mouse made a snarky remark that Vicki didn’t worry about anyone. Vicki scrunched up her mouth to one side. Mouse was probably right. Besides, Vicki knew damn well Mouse could take care of herself.

“Vicki they have Alex, and that Anna girl.” Mouse informed her. Vicki frowned darkly. This was bad, very bad if this was the same ‘they’ that had tried to kill her a few days ago. “Do we know where they are?” Mouse said she did, and gave Vicki an address to meet at. “I have someone else I can bring.” Vicki hated bringing Amy into this, but she suspected Alex would need all the help she could get. “Yeah, Maxwell said we needed as many as we could get. I’ll explain that later.” Mouse hung up.

Letting her head and shoulders fall back onto the cushion of her chair, Vicki made herself get up the nerve to call Amy. They hadn’t talked since that day Vicki had damn near killed both of them because she was acting a fool. Vicki wondered who Maxwell was, as well. Though if Mouse trusted him enough to take orders from him, then he must be ok. She stared at the display on her phone a while, looking at Amy’s name. Her thumb finally pressed the talk button.

Amy answered with a friendly greeting, she didn’t call Vicki ‘love’, or anything else but her first name. It was a refreshing first, but yet creepy, Amy had never held back before. Still, Amy was holding true to her word. About winning her legitimately “Amy, I need a favor.” Vicki expected a squeal of delight, followed by a heavy toned promise of wonderful things to come. She got a simple, ok and that Amy would be over in twenty minutes to discuss it. Vicki pulled on some jeans, socks, and a red sweater. There was no sense in giving Amy any ideas. She might just be playing it cool to spring on Vicki at the first available chance. Vicki started to wonder how Amy knew where she was. Then she considered it. It was Amy. Amy seemed to always know. Vicki would have to check her car and clothes for a tracer later.

It took Amy only ten minutes to arrive. She too was dressed down, a t-shirt, and jeans with sneakers. This was so unlike the Amy she knew, who if she wore anything at all around Vicki back then, it was revealing and meant to be sexy, easily removed, or both. Subtlety when it came to her desires had never been Amy’s modus operandi. Vicki had also welcomed the attention back then. She’d been convinced she wanted it. Now she realized it was far from the truth. What Vicki had wanted was to forget. Amy had made that happen by keeping Vicki’s mind and body otherwise occupied.

“Hi” Vicki offered mildly and clipped. “This is important.” Amy nodded, and walked inside. “I knew it would be if you called, though I hoped it might be a social call. It’s about Alex isn’t it? They got her.” Vicki nodded solemnly. Amy always knew somehow, it was just getting eerie. “Mouse just called me and gave me an address to go to.” Vicki walked over and picked up a briefcase she had packed while waiting for Amy to arrive. “Tools.” She explained simply. Amy smiled, she had taught Vicki well. “I’ll drive.” Vicki was being distant. Amy could hardly blame her, even if she didn’t like it.

It didn’t take a genius to know that Vicki was uncomfortable with Amy around. It felt weird to Amy too, being with Vicki, and not playing their usual games. She would make advances at Vicki. Vicki would usually get mad at her and calling Amy every name in the book then making up some new ones. Now there was just awkward silence. Amy turned and looked out the window at the city as the car headed down the highway. “Any idea where she is, or what we’re up against?” Vicki didn’t respond for a moment. “Mouse said she’d explain when we got there. I don’t like it. Mouse always sounds nervous. She was more than nervous. She was worried, but she was trying to hide it.” Amy pulled at her lower lip. She didn’t like this, at all. They might be in over their heads on this one.

It didn’t take them long to arrive at the apartment. Mouse ushered them in quickly, after checking no one had followed. Vicki raised her brow, Mouse knew she’d never let anyone follow her. If Mouse was this paranoid, things must have gone south, and then come back around and pointed a gun at the back of her head. “I don’t have the details on this place they were taken to. I just know it’s bad. If Maxwell didn’t think he and I could handle it alone, it must be.”

Vicki didn’t like being kept in the dark, even if it was because Mouse didn’t know anything either. “Who is this Maxwell anyway?” Mouse looked at the floor, this was the Mouse, Vicki knew timid, shy, and not liking to talk about things. “He’s my father.” Vicki was stunned into silence. Amy blinked, stunning Vicki was a feat. It had taken her coming back from the dead to do this to Vicki last time. She hoped it wouldn’t take a nap to bring her out of it this time. “Why is her father so shocking, Vicki?” She turned to Mouse. “You must be Mouse, Vicki is being rude. So I’ll introduce myself. I’m Amy. Vicki’s told me a lot about you.” This wasn’t entirely true. She’d heard a lot about Mouse from the underground. She was supposed to be the best of the best when it came to theft, but really she was also really eccentric.

As Amy extended a hand to her to shake, she saw how Mouse got her name. Mouse had pressed her front teeth against her lip, exposing just the front two, and looked nervously at the hand. She backed away a little. Amy shook her head with a smile. “It won’t bite, I promise.” Mouse reluctantly extended a hand and took Amy’s in a weak grip. It was almost impossible to believe this tiny little girl was ‘the’ Mouse she’d heard so much about. “I hear you’re the best. Broken into, gotten out of, and designed some of the best security systems. Supposedly only caught once or twice and even then they couldn’t hold you. Your engineering skills are legendary, too.” All she got in reply was a short nervous nod.

She let it go, no sense in tormenting the girl, she’d talk when she wanted to. Amy gently touched Vicki’s shoulder, which made Vicki jump. “Sorry Amy. I was just, Mouse’s parents are supposed to be dead. Then again, I’ve seen so many reanimated people of late. Who knows anymore?” This prompted Mouse to speak. “He was my adoptive father, the one that died. I don’t know about the mother. Maxwell said she was adopted too. This brings my sister really being my sister into question now too, but there are more important things to worry about.” Vicki agreed.

Amy laughed softly. “Are any of us normal? Family members popping out of the woodwork, clones, reanimated corpses, insanely good engineers, escape artists with their own shady pasts. We could write novels about our adventures. Or maybe a soap opera, all we need is a few lovers, betrayals…” She stopped as she saw Vicki frowning and Mouse looking at the floor. Her joke was going over like a lead balloon. “I’ll umm… would anyone like anything to drink? I’m thirsty” Without waiting for an answer Amy headed into the kitchen and let things lapse into another uncomfortable silence

. A flash from the kitchen was followed by a familiar voice. “Sorry I’m late. I had to go play head games with Vivian.” Amy dropped the glass she’d been filling with water. Vicki was on her feet in a flash and before anyone could react had Maxwell pinned against a wall holding him by the lapels of his jacket. “Give me three good reasons, I shouldn’t kill you right now you bastard.”

Mouse blinked, jumped up, and tried to pull Vicki off her father. “Vicki! Stop it! What’s wrong with you?” Maxwell chuckled and glanced at Mouse. “I put her into a unpleasant situation the other day. She’s understandably upset.” He looked back at Vicki “I assure you Ms. Reynolds, I acted under orders, it was nothing personal. Now please you’re wrinkling my jacket.” Amy moved to help pull Vicki off Maxwell. “Vicki, behave. We need him for now. You can try to kill him after we save Alex.”

Mouse looked skeptically at Maxwell. “What did you do to Vicki?” Maxwell sighed. “Vivian needed the protections on the house removed. I placed her, in a uncompromising position.” Vicki roared with anger. “You tried to kill me!” Maxwell closed his eyes and sighed. “Ms. Reynolds had I wanted you dead, you would have been. I had plenty of opportunities to kill you. And let’s face it, you weren’t exactly, cooperative.”

Vicki roared and struggled against Mouse and Amy, and managed to get an arm loose from Mouse to wave it at Maxwell. “Of course I wasn’t cooperative, you bastard! You brought back my dead mentor to torment me, tied me to a chair, kidnapped children, and then wrapped me in razor wire, tied a weight to my ankle and threw me in quicksand!” Vicki was fuming.

Amy pinned Vicki down so she didn’t try to strangle Maxwell. Mouse just looked back and forth, becoming more and more horrified. “Technically, my men did all of those things, and Vivian brought Amy back to life, but I am to blame for masterminding at least the kidnapping and your, shall we say torment? However Ms. Reynolds, we need to call a truce for now. Your friends are in danger, and I suspect they mean more to you than revenge right now.” Vicki balled up her fists and let her fingernails dig into her palms. She seethed for a moment before finally grunted an agreement. Amy looked at her warily, but felt she could let Vicki go.

“Well now that we’re all friends” Maxwell said jovially, “Let’s get down to business.” He pulled a laptop from a bag at his side then pulled up building schematics. “Now, as you can all see, this place will not be easy to get into. It’s an underground facility. The kids have been getting out because a couple of people on the inside made it happen. I’m not certain we can be afforded the same luxury, but I will see what can be done.”

Pointing at the upper level of the map, Maxwell continued. “There’s only one way in or out. The rest of the place is surrounded by a very deadly swamp. I assure you, we wouldn’t get through it alive. Technically I could teleport you in. But if I did, it would set off every security alarm in the building. It’s keyed to let me in or out. If I bring anything over 30lbs with me, well you don’t want to hear the awful noise the klaxons will make. I could probably smuggle one of Mouse’s robots inside though.” Looking over the blueprints, Mouse sighed. “It’s going to take me a month a least to get a plan together.” Maxwell didn’t seem too put off by this. “I figured it would take time. For once it’s a luxury we have.”

Vicki was ready to scream. “What was all this about then?” Maxwell smiled sweetly at Vicki. She wanted to slap that smile off his face. “My dear Vicki…” She cut him off fast “Don’t you dare call me that.” Maxwell shrugged “Have it your way then. I promise you your shot at me when this is all said and done. However, the purpose of this was for all of us to sit down, and get an idea of what we were up against. Certainly you don’t rush into things headlong Ms. Reynolds.” Amy gave Vicki a reproachful look. Vicki sighed and had to let Maxwell have that one, but she didn’t look particularly happy about it. She’d have wanted to spend time researching too, if her head had been on straight at the moment.

Amy touched Vicki’s arm gently. “Perhaps if there’s nothing further to discuss tonight, you could take me to my car.” She looked at Maxwell, in a look that said plainly, she wasn’t in the mood for discussion on the matter. Maxwell nodded. “I think we’ve assessed our resources. You two are welcome to dig on The Company, but I’ll doubt you’ll find much. These guys are so secretive it makes that urban legend group The Illuminati look like kids in a sandbox giggling over a secret. I’ll have Mouse keep in touch while we formulate a plan.” Vicki was all too happy to leave after saying her good nights to Mouse and snarling at Maxwell.

Watching the two women made Maxwell feel more relaxed, he hadn’t expected Reynolds to bring Amy. The two hadn’t been in contact since he’d captured Vicki. With his resources it was easy to keep tabs. “Well for people who hate every fiber of my being, I think that went very well. Amy has a very cool head on her shoulders. Vicki, well, Vicki’s always been a little of a hothead. But she gets results.” Mouse closed the laptop, and turned to Maxwell. “Why?” It was a simple question yet it asked so much.

He’d been waiting for this since Vicki slammed him into the wall.

Maxwell stood, walked into the kitchen, got the glass out of the sink Amy had dropped and got some water before speaking. “There are a lot of things that we have to do. Sometimes we don’t like them. I know you understand that all too well, Mouse.” He paused as his train of thought switched tracks a moment. “You have a real name, maybe you could tell me what it is? It’s odd calling my daughter, Mouse, when it’s not a nickname I gave you.”

Mouse’s gaze fell to the ground. She’d never let anyone use her real name. Even Alex called her Mouse. It made her uncomfortable just thinking about it. “Lydia.” She said softly. “But I don’t like being called that. I’ve been Mouse so long… Lydia died with my… other father.”

A moment of silence followed, Maxwell broke it. “It’s a pretty name. A lot of your friends are coming back to life. Maybe she should too.” Mouse wanted to change the subject back. This topic was making her uncomfortable. She shifted her position nervously “You’re avoiding my question.” Maxwell sighed. “I’m not going to press it on you, Mouse. Just think about it, ok? At any rate, as I was saying before I sidetracked myself. We both know sometimes we have to do unpleasant things. It’s simply the nature of the business we’re in.” Maxwell stopped with that statement and drank some of his water. Mouse broke the silence. “I’ve never killed anyone. Maybe threatened a few times, but, they didn’t know I wouldn’t hurt them. You would have killed her.” Her voice was accusatory, her eyes met his and demanded explanation.

Maxwell put his hands up defensively “Don’t get the wrong ideas, Mouse. And in your own way, you did kill people. You violated their homes, their businesses. Took away that which they probably valued most, maybe you didn’t physically hurt then, but the mental scars from feeling violated. That’s its own form of hurt.” Mouse wanted to yell at him, tell him he was wrong. She just hung her head as Maxwell continued “The difference here is it happened to someone you care about. I should have told you before she came, but there wasn’t time. I could have prepared you for this better and for that I’m sorry. I doubt she’d accept an apology from me any more than anyone you’ve ever stolen from.”

Again, Mouse wanted to protest. She’d just discovered she had a father. Sure, he was a creep, but then she was no better really. Hiding behind the flimsy argument that she hadn’t killed anyone was just hiding the truth, brushing the ugliness under the rug. Maxwell continued “Vicki’s going to want her pound of flesh. But I’m not going to just let her take it,”

Mouse closed her eyes tight “Just don’t hurt her, too badly. Don’t kill her. Please.” Maxwell laughed a little at this. “As much bravado as I like to have about it. I’m more worried about her hurting me. Certainly like you, I have gadgets to hide behind, but when it comes right down to it, she has other combat skills neither of us could come close to matching. She’s a crack shot. If she wanted she could probably have me dead before I even got a chance.” Mouse pleaded. “You could, I don’t know, restrain her somehow. Find something to take her guns away? Rig the field in advance, anything.” Maxwell rustled Mouse’s hair with a soft laugh. “Maybe she’s the one you should be begging not to hurt me too badly.”

The ride home was an even more uncomfortable silence than the ride there. Amy had finally had enough of Vicki’s quiet seething. “If you kill him, you’re just going to hurt your friend you know. Sure her father is scum. To be fair, so is she. And you… and me, we’re all scum. Us, we’ve killed in the names of lofty goals, justice, protecting those who couldn’t protect themselves. But we still have blood on our hands, Vicki. Is it worth it to hurt her, just to satisfy your own bruised ego?” Vicki tried to tune Amy out. She wasn’t having it this time. It wasn’t her that maniac had tried to manipulate, and then almost killed. The father bit was probably just some ploy to control Mouse.

Amy had had it with Vicki’s nonsense today. “Oh, grow up, Vicki. You think I’m not pissed off at the audacity of this man? He damn near killed you, sold us our lives that he had put in jeopardy in the first place, and all for his own ends. You’ve paid off one criminal to get to another, looked the other way just to keep a good informant. You and I, we’re no better than him. He means something to that girl back there. What if it was your long lost relative, Vicki?” Amy was furious with Vicki’s childish behavior.

Vicki almost lost control of the car as her mind was so clouded with rage. “Just stop it, Amy. Don’t you think I know all these things? And how do we even know he really is her father? Just because he told Mouse that it was true?” Vicki snarled. Amy shot back “What you don’t think Mouse is smarter than that, Vicki? Do you really think she’d just accept the word of some guy who walked up and said ‘Hi, I’m your real father.’? Give her some credit!”

The conversation lapsed back into silence. After Vicki pulled into the parking space in front of her apartment, Amy got out of the car. “For both of your sakes, Vicki, I hope you make the right decision.” She shut Vicki’s car door and got into her own car. Never had she been so disgusted with Vicki’s behavior. “I didn’t teach you to be like this, Vicki. What changed you?” She asked of herself. “Was it Marcus Dangor? Was whatever he did to you, so bad that it made you this angry? Or was it losing Alex? Maybe even I’m partially to blame.” She watched Vicki storm up to her apartment. There was nothing she could do now except drive home, and hope Vicki came to her senses.

Alex awoke to the smell of food. Something that smelled very nice. It was penne with salmon in a creamy tomato sauce with soft crusty bread on the side. It was divine. After filling her stomach, she realized she wasn’t in the closet room from before. This room wasn’t much bigger. It did have a bookshelf, and the bed was more than just a mattress on a frame, with a sheet on it. It had a blanket and a pillow. A note on the bookshelf told her she could request whatever books she liked and was attached to a little form to be filled out, that she could give to a guard when they came around with food.

There was even a little nightstand with a digital clock on it. It wasn’t much but at least she had something more to keep her occupied than talking to ghosts, and counting the cracks in the ceiling. There was also a folding chair in the corner. It wasn’t much but at least didn’t look completely uncomfortable.

A guard came for the food tray, again threatening her by waving a cattle prod. Perhaps if she got it into her head that she should bum rush him. She supposed some of the others they’d brought in here had tried just that, or worse. It wasn’t too much longer before Dr. Blackwell knocked on the door and announced herself. She came in after Alex said it was ok.

Miriam sat down in the chair and crossed her legs. “I am truly sorry about that little episode a few hours ago. I had informed them they were to bring you here immediately. You already know how to use your powers, and how to behave yourself. Marcus would have seen to that.” Alex doubted she was sorry about anything. “I also would like to apologize for that incident at your home. You and Anna getting flash frozen was not supposed to happen. He nearly killed both of you.” Miriam looked at her watch. “Anna should be fully recovered soon. That girl can live through anything.” Miriam smiled, though Alex thought it looked faked.

This couldn’t be what the great Dr. Blackwell came down here to do, engage in small talk. Alex remained quiet. Miriam smiled weakly this time. She didn’t expect Alex to respond positively, but at least she wasn’t ranting or trying to attack. “No, I suppose you wouldn’t have much to say to me right now. I stormed your house, encased you in ice, and then you’ve undergone some level of discomfort.” Discomfort, like bloody hell, they’d electrocuted her, twice, or was it three times now? She’d lost track with all the tasers waved in her face. That didn’t even count the rest of list of indignities she’d faced here since she’d arrived here. “Alexandra, I know you’re very upset about today. Unfortunately, I am forced to run a very tight ship here. All of you have powers, great power. Enough for you to hurt yourself and others try to see things my way.”

The words were mesmerizing. Alex realized she was falling under some sort of spell. She blinked a few times to regain focus, tried to steel her mind. Then she did that trick James had taught her, to split her mind. She could push all of Dr. Blackwell’s sweet talk to one half, and focus with the other. Miriam laughed. “Very good, Alexandra, I see you have some mastery over your powers and can protect yourself with them. Alright, no more tricks.”

That seemed very unlikely to Alex, this woman was very much full of tricks. Alex wasn’t sure how Miriam even knew what she was doing, but she wasn’t going to give that woman any sign of her surprise. Anna hadn’t gotten a chance to tell her much of anything about this place. Alex wished now they’d had more time than just long enough for Anna to drag her out the door, and into the arms of a trap. Miriam continued “Alexandra, we have a system here. It rewards good behavior with privileges, and poor behavior with punishments.” Alex mumbled under her breath “and electro-shock therapy”

Miriam nodded solemnly. “An unfortunate, but effective means, the guards must be strict or the children will feel they can run this place. You probably never experienced high school, or any school other than private tutors. You don’t understand how teenagers can be, and only have your quieter self to judge by. Take one of your social parties. I’m sure Marcus made you attend a few. They’re a lot like high school. The socialites are unforgiving, there’s a pecking order, and there’s cliques, often based on how old your money is. But everything is executed on a quietly polite level, social snubs rather than physical attacks are the order of the day. Take away that politeness, and now add powers, and the lack of experience as well as raging hormones into the mix. Chaos would ensue and people would get hurt. I have to do these things Alexandra, to protect them.”

Taking short pause to catch her breath before continuing, Miriam studied Alexandra’s reactions carefully, and probed the girl’s mind carefully. Alexandra was hiding behind s false front of bravery to mask her other emotions. She was scared, alone, and had been separated from her only friend. She’d suffered indignities that her own modesty had created to a small degree, but was also a completely understandable reaction.

With no hope to cling to, it was time to give her some. “Alexandra, life here can improve for you. You seem like a very well behaved girl, Marcus would have taught you to be. I’m sure within the week you’ll be on the next floor up, where you’ll be given some freedom to roam, should you like it. Tonight’s meal was a sample of the things to come for you if you are willing to take them. Once you are upstairs you can choose to take your meals in the cafeteria, or in your room. Meals and privileges will improve with good behavior and cooperation.”

She gave Alexandra a moment to absorb this. The girl certainly wanted better than she had now. She had been just fine living in the trailers despite the lack of lavishness, where she could care for herself. While she was timid, she was strong willed and quite independent. Things Miriam could turn to her advantage. Where she was now, she was helpless and completely dependant on them bringing her things. “The more you are willing to help us, the more you’ll be given. The less you cooperate, the more will be taken away. There are others out there like you out there. They’re scared and alone, because they aren’t like others. We bring them here, and teach them and surround them with people they can relate to.”

While she doubted the reasons for bringing anyone here were anything but for anyone’s own good, Alex had to wonder. Anna had tried so hard to get out of here. Why? Was it so bad to work with these people? There were things Alexandra needed to know. The only way to find out would be playing along. Alex frowned as she froze her own thought process. Dr. Blackwell had known Alex had split her mind. Was she reading Alex’s thoughts right now?

The girl was quick to catch on. Miriam had to hand it to her. She would just let her stew in her own juices on the mind reading part. There was a lot to this story, and while she normally couldn’t pick up much from Anna, she had sensed a quelling in Anna’s rebellious spirit. Something on the outside had tamed her a little. Miriam stood. “I’ll leave you to your own thoughts for now. You seem to have much on your mind. I do hope you’ll consider working with us and not against us.” Miriam left Alex’s room, and made her way back to her office.

Closing the door of her office, Miriam sighed. Alexandra had barely been here a few hours and already there were rumors spreading. Half of the level fives had requested her as a companion, and a handful of the fours. Miriam had purposely not answered those yet. She wanted Alexandra to have time to get acclimated before she subjected her to anyone’s whims. It could make the girl rebel. She looked over the requests. Rebecca wanted Alex? Not bloody likely, while Rebecca was one of her most loyal, Miriam knew damn well that girl was perhaps more twisted than Marcus, and certainly more violent. She would not subject Alex to that. There was another problem child though that needed breaking. She would suggest that one to Rebecca.

Alan was requesting Anna, hardly a surprise. Alan had been smitten with Anna since, well twenty minutes after he laid eyes on her. She pondered this one a moment. The two were friends, there was little doubt Alan would treat her well. But Miriam had little suspicions about him and these escapes. Partially because he was one of the few she couldn’t monitor his use of his powers. It could be nothing. He was well behaved, if disinterested in most of the goings on. Perhaps giving him Anna would keep Alan too occupied to cause secret trouble. She’d approve it for now and carefully watch the situation. If it wasn’t her paranoia about him, she would now have something that he would care about her taking away from him. Allowing him onto the fourth floor hadn’t seemed to impress him much. Miriam tapped her nails on her desk, and with the other hand grabbed a cup of coffee her secretary had put there while Miriam had been away.

There had to be someone she could put Alexandra with, who wouldn’t abuse the girl, and scare her into rebellion. Scott came to mind, but Scott would be too absorbed in his virtual world to pay any attention to Alexandra. She’d tried that once already with Jennifer. Scott had been completely unresponsive. She would need someone, quiet, like Alexandra, but just aggressive enough to coax a response out of her, without being overbearing.

Scanning the list of requests, Miriam saw something that caught her eye. Sarah was on the list requesting Alexandra. Now that was unusual, usually she sent people to Sarah, because of the girl’s unusual power. She had never actually requested anyone. Sarah could control her pheromones. It was a unique power that even Miriam had never heard of prior to encountering the girl. Sarah wasn’t a particularly pretty girl, she wasn’t homely either, but for someone who looked as average as she did, she had been very popular with the boys, unnaturally so. When one of Miriam’s recruiters had infiltrated that particular school, they had felt a need to call it in, because it was just so odd. It turned out to be a positive.

Pondering this a while, Miriam decided that would be the best choice. Sarah wouldn’t abuse Alexandra, and if anything did spark, Alexandra would think it was her attraction to Sarah that was the source. She wondered if Alexandra even liked girls that way. She approved the request. She would even have Alexandra meet Sarah tonight. Perhaps, call it a mentoring program, so Alexandra wouldn’t get suspicious immediately. Now there was just to inform Sarah and Alan of her decisions.

A knock on the door aroused Alex from the nap she had been taking. Until the guards came for a meal delivery, there wasn’t much else to do. Even Julie hadn’t been back by. “I’m here” Alex offered. Of course she was here. The door was locked, and she was without lock picks. Where else would she be? She glanced at the clock, seven-thrity, it was probably mealtime. She’d prepared a list of books after Miriam left. At least tomorrow with breakfast she’d have something interesting to do. The door opened and instead of a food tray a guard waved her out. “Follow.” He commanded abruptly.

Alex had learned that arguing with these people was detrimental to her health, so she slipped on her shoes and quickly scooted out of the room. The door was closed behind her, and the guard nudged her forward. Alex had no idea where she was being taken. She hoped it wasn’t to that room again. No they’d drugged her for that. She thought about asking, but she didn’t want that prod jammed in her back. The guard led her down some hallways, and finally they stopped in front of an elevator. “Wait here. Once the elevator arrives step in. Press five, someone will meet you there and instruct you further.” With that he walked back down the hallway.

Being alone here was weird, perhaps even creepier than being led down a hallway. Alex guessed they assumed she wouldn’t run. They were right. Where would she go anyway? She knew nothing about this place. The elevator dinged and the doors opened silently. Alex stepped inside. Her choices were one through five. She wasn’t real sure any of the others were better than five, and if she pushed anything else there would probably be guards waiting to shock her to death. She pushed five.

The elevator slowly went down. Now that was unexpected. Didn’t higher numbers usually mean going up? It was just something else to note about this insane place. She wondered if Dr. Blackwell was right. Would these kids really run amuck with their powers if left to their own devices? The elevator dinged announcing its arrival at its destination and broke her train of thought. As the doors opened she saw another guard. “Go down to the third door on the left. Knock.” He said simply before stepping aside to let her exit the elevator. Once she was out, he got in, pressed a button and the doors closed. She was all alone again.

There were fewer doors in this hallway, and spaced much further apart. The rooms must be bigger here. Alex figured she was on one of the better floors. She walked swiftly to the third door on the right and knocked. She didn’t want to see if the guard would come back out of the elevator and chase her down if she didn’t. After a moment, the door opened. A small Japanese girl stood before her. Alex was a short girl at five foot two. She hadn’t seen many people shorter than her. This was one of them.

Overall the girl wasn’t very impressive. She looked kind of cute facially, but her thin body didn’t offer much in the way of attractiveness. Alex noticed almost immediately she wasn’t wearing a uniform like hers, instead it was a red turtleneck sweater, a short black skirt, and black stockings. Small silver earrings dangled from her ears, and a small silver heart shaped pendant with small shining white stones was hung from a silver chain around her neck. The girl smiled at her. “You must be Alexandra” She spoke perfect English with only the slightest hint of an accent. Alex blushed and tried to hide her initial feelings. There was just something about this girl. She was charming in her own special way. “I’m Sarah. Please come in. Dr. Blackwell asked me to be, your guide here. To help you feel more at home.”

Inside it was like another world. Alex had been to Japan once, she even knew a little Japanese. The place was huge, and decorated in Asian style. There was even the little place where shoes were left. Wearing shoes in the house was considered rude in Japan. Alex slipped off her flats and stepped into the room proper. It was luxurious, with hints of traditional Japanese housing. There were no rice paper walls. That probably would have been, a bit much, but the dining room table was low to the ground with cushions to sit on. But there was Japanese artwork on the walls, and everything else had a traditional Japanese flair about it.

Alex wondered if she slept in a traditional Japanese futon as well. The hotel had been in the same traditional style, complete with an open air hot spring bath and rice paper walls. The bath had made her nervous about exposing her body around others, even if it was just other women. Sarah put a hand on the back of Alex’s shoulder and gently nudged her forward. “It’s a bit much to take in at once, Alexandra, take your time, but perhaps you’d like to come into the house first.” She smiled, laughing softly. Alex turned red and walked further into the house proper. Sarah shut the door behind her.

“It’s lovely” Alex said breathlessly. She heard the soft tap of a bamboo tube that caught water at a hot spring from a water wheel and then dumped into the bath. It sounded like it was in a back room. Alex had never been entirely sure what that thing had been for. Still this girl even had a hot spring make-up in her bathroom? It was too much. Sarah smiled at Alex’s overwhelmed face. “It’s a level five penthouse. We are allowed, quite a few luxuries. You have a taste for things Japanese? I caught the look of recognition in your eyes.”

Alex shook her head quickly. “I went to Japan once, with my father. We stayed in a traditional hotel. It looked a lot like this, except it had rice paper walls. Sarah laughed that soft laugh again. Alex liked Sarah’s laugh, it was soothing and pretty. It was the first thing she had taken comfort in since she’d come to this crazy place. “They wouldn’t let me have the walls. Something about if I ever lost my place here, they would have to completely remodel. I was born here, in America, but my parents liked traditional things.” Sarah explained and then again nudged Alex towards the table. “I had just finished cooking dinner, there’s more than enough for two.”

Dinner was simple, yakimono, pickled vegetables, a bowl of rice, miso soup and tempura. Steaming green tea sat on the table as well. “I enjoy tempura entirely too much” Sarah giggled at herself. “I was lazy tonight and made yakimono. I hope you don’t mind. Perhaps next time I’ll make onkonomiyaki.” Alex shook her head and indicated she didn’t mind. Alex caught Sarah by surprise when she said “Itadakimasu” before picking up her chopsticks. Sarah smiled “I didn’t know you knew traditional ways.” She said the same before picking up her chopsticks. She also noted Alex’s proper holding of the bowls. She had been taught Japanese etiquette, intriguing.

The food was delicious. Alex knew this trend couldn’t continue. Tomorrow’s breakfast would be likely very plain. They were showing her what she could have, so long as she did what they wanted. Sarah was equally shocked when Alexandra turned to her at the end of the meal and said “gochisosama deshita”, something very traditional and very polite to say to the host at the end of the meal. She knew Alex would be very special from the moment she heard the buzzing about an important new arrival that had come back with Anna. Anyone Anna sought out would be unique. “My father made me learn.” Alex explained finally. “He didn’t want me to upset the managers of the place, and thought it would impress them more if his daughter displayed good manners too. It did of course.”

Once Sarah had cleared the dinner dishes, she sat next to Alexandra at the table. “So tell me about yourself, you seem to be a very interesting girl. The entire facility is all abuzz about the mysterious new girl.” Alex turned red. She liked Sarah even though she barely knew this girl. Sarah seemed really kind, and a little reserved. She seemed little like Mouse, though probably without the tendency to disappear into her own world for days on end. Someone Alex could get to like as a friend, or maybe more. The thought made her blush. “There’s not much to say really” Alex began. “I’m just an escape artist. I used to be on tour with my father. I umm….” Alex stalled. How much should she tell this girl? She was sure Dr. Blackwell knew everything and more about her. But the locals, how much did they need to know?

Placing her hand over Alex’s, Sarah smiled at her nervous companion. “You don’t have to say any more than you want. But I am very interested in hearing all about you. I do hear you’re different than most of us. You seem to have a lot of powers if the rumors are to be believed. I’ve never met anyone with more than one. Is there something you prefer to be called than Alexandra?”

“Most people call me Alex or Lexi.” Alex was reluctant to say more, she half expected Sarah to whip out a cattle prod and hit her with it. Nothing like that happened, instead Sarah patted her hand, then met Alex’s green eyes with her own dark Asian eyes. “You’re free here to say what you want, or don’t want. I’m here to be your friend, Alex” Sarah left out, the ‘or more if you wanted.’ she was thinking. Alexandra seemed shy. No need to overwhelm her. There was plenty of time, and Alexandra was starting to relax already.

Besides that look in Alex’s eyes and her body language told the story that Alex herself could not. She was attracted to Sarah. Alex was confused about exactly why, she just knew she was. But she was also afraid, not so much of Sarah, but of something else. Probably of being rejected or laughed at. Alex didn’t know Sarah’s persuasions and of course she would be too timid to ask. A little nudge then. Nudges seemed to work very well on Alex.

Normally Alex would have pulled her hand away. Yet she willingly let Sarah, a girl she barely knew keep a comforting hand over hers. Not that this seemed like a bad idea. Sarah’s hand was warm. And it was nice to have someone else friendly in this place. “Anna is alright now.” Sarah informed Alex. “She was returned to her room a little while ago. I thought you would want to know. There are a lot of rumors surrounding you two.”

Alex quickly blurted out “She’s just a friend.” Sarah laughed that musical laugh of hers. “Well no one’s said ‘that’ just yet, but I’m sure it’s been whispered more than once. No I meant, Anna claimed she was your sister.” It was something Rebecca had said and could hardly be taken at face value. Rebecca was known for two things, her hatred of Anna, and her violent streak. But it was an odd rumor for Rebecca to spread, there was no purpose, save maybe making Anna sound delusional, but then that was nothing new given that Anna often cleaned up the messes Level Zero made of new recruit’s minds. She could get delusional during her recoveries and say the craziest things.

Alex shook her head. “I’m an only child, at least as far as I know. Besides she’s younger than me, and mom was on tour with dad around the time she would have been born. I know she didn’t have any other kids.” Sarah waved her other hand dismissively “You know how rumors are. They get all turned around.”

A lot of small talk followed. A few jokes about whether Alex could get herself out of this place if she wanted, and some short demonstrations of Alex’s skills, which greatly impressed Sarah. Yes, this one was more than anything she’d hoped for. Dr. Blackwell had made her tame many of the other unruly members. She’d even put Anna up against her. That had been an interesting battle of wills. Anna won, but only barely. Anna was too stubborn, or maybe her inexperience, lead her to somewhat immune to seduction. The most Sarah had gotten was a kiss, once. It certainly wasn’t because of gender. Sarah had convinced many a straight girl to sleep with her. All of those had been meaningless. Alex would be different. Sarah actually wanted to be with Alex.

It was clear Alexandra had tasted the passions of romance and longed for it again. It was easy to see in that dreamy look in Alex’s eyes. Sarah began to intensify her power a little. Alex was hooked All Sarah had to do was reel her in gently. Perhaps, there could even be a taste tonight of what Alex had to offer. Sarah didn’t know why, but this girl. She wanted her. The more she saw of her, the more she wanted her. Aside from Anna, no one had ever denied her the company of her bed. And really, she hadn’t even wanted Anna or anyone else sent to her. It was just that Dr. Blackwell didn’t trust Rebecca alone with Anna for five seconds. Rebecca was the other female spirit breaker. Rebecca didn’t need her powers. She just used her twisted mind and made Anna clean up the messes.

Rarely had she ever had someone fall so deeply, when she wasn’t even trying. Alex had even prompted the kiss, in a cute little nervous fashion. She’d bit her lip, edged closer, turned red, and then finally leaned in a little, eyes focused on the ground, but her intent was obvious. The first kiss had been a soft testing of the waters, barely brushing the lips. The second kiss was still shy, but braver, it actually lasted a moment. The third Sarah had taken the initiative, and been rewarded with a deeper, more passionate kiss. Sarah’s hand drifted down to Alex’s legs. Start simply, but make the desire clear.

Gently rubbing Alex’s outer thigh made the girl tense up, turn red as a beet, and back off, fast. Alex shuddered nervously, but her eyes kept looking back at Sarah, and betraying that she was trying to decide if she wanted to expose herself to that again. She had sparked something in Alex. Normally that wasn’t too far with anyone else. Alex had reacted oddly. Certainly rubbing Alex’s leg had been invasive, but in the middle of a deep passionate kiss, stroking was normal, and it wasn’t as if she had reached under Alex’s skirt. No there was something else.

It was time to take the initiative again. Sarah moved herself in front of Alex, slowly, and sat in a demure pose, exposing her legs fully to Alex’s view. Sarah watched Alex’s eyes, and as she suspected, they went right to Sarah’s legs, then back to the floor. She had determined this much. Alex liked legs or at least something surrounding them it was hard to pinpoint the exact fetish. Alex was also very reserved at least initially.

Sarah was uncertain how to proceed. Speaking might startle the poor girl. Being overly forward now would probably scare her off completely and make her unwilling later without a huge investment of Sarah’s power and then it wouldn’t feel like the start of a meaningful relationship for Alexandra. Rather a moment of weakness that opened up the floodgates of lust. However if Sarah left things up to Alex, it could take all night to make progress.

That left one option. Sarah half closed her eyes, as she gently coaxed the pheromones to do her bidding. To give Alexandra a little nudge towards making her decision. With some it was best to blast them full on and let the lust driven beast within come forth. Alexandra had been one that required a gentle touch. While she certainly had a beast, it was reluctant and guarded. The gentle push worked like a charm. Alex made her decision, and in moments was back to kissing her newfound companion. Sarah noted that Alex had swung her legs mirroring hers, so they wouldn’t touch. It was an unusual move. Alexandra was guarding herself still. From what Sarah wasn’t certain, but she would find out.

Time for a different tactic, Alexandra would have to be warmed up. Sarah broke the kiss and moved to the nape of Alex’s neck and began to kiss softly, while stroking Alex’s back. Alex responded by arcing her back and her breath began to quicken. So it was definitely something in touching Alex’s leg that had sparked that reaction. For some reason she wouldn’t let Sarah touch them, but that would change. Alex seemed to have found some bravery, as her hands slid under Sarah’s sweater and rubbed her lower back. Sarah rewarded this bravery with another kiss.

Now that Alex was more aggressive time to up the stakes. Sarah pulled back a little and unfastened the top button of Alex’s blouse. Sarah had always hated those stupid uniforms. They reminded her of school uniforms from Japan. Two more buttons, left Alex’s breasts slightly exposed, with no adverse reactions. Sarah smiled at Alex’s breasts. They were small breasts, but so cute. Sarah liked them. If she could open this modest girl’s shirt and she not run away, Sarah could make her move now. Alex was deep into her spell. Except, really she wasn’t, Alex had wanted this, and it had been obvious from the beginning. Sarah wasn’t trying hard enough to have done anything but to heighten Alex’s desires. She stroked Alex’s leg again, and that’s when things went crazy.

Anna had been sleeping when the guards came to her door. He spoke through it “Alright, Anna, Let’s just do this without a fight. You’re probably worn out, and I don’t want to have to throw you down the hall before you find some way to purposely injure yourself” The guards had figured the best way to stop her from injuring them, was to never give her the chance. Miriam wanted the armor to give protection, but unless Anna was prepared in advance there wasn’t a lot she could do. “You’ve been chosen as a companion.”

Drowsily, Anna clutched her pillow tightly then rolled over. Every guy in the fours and fives and several of the girls had tried to take Anna as a companion. Anna had gone out of her way to make sure none of them wanted to keep her. Once she’d figured out how to make her power work in reverse, no one had wanted to touch her.

Well ok, not all of them had wanted her as a companion. Scott hadn’t. But, Scott was Scott. He was wrapped up in his own world. Anna wondered sometimes if he even came back into reality. When they said control, they really meant, more of became. Scott didn’t just control the device. It was like it was a part of him. If he took over the toaster, it would have been like someone grafted a toaster onto his arm. Anna giggled at the mental image.

A banging on her door interrupted her sleepy train of thought. “Tell them I’m tired.” Anna groaned at the door. “I’ll come see them tomorrow.” The guard continued to talk through the door at her, insisting it had to be now. Anna gave up. “Look, just come in here. I’m not going to fight you. I don’t have the energy today.” Anna was the only person in the facility the guards truly feared. She knew it, and they knew she knew it. The guard crept into the room, as if he expected the floor to be covered in poisonous snakes. “It wasn’t your new companion’s request, Anna. It was Dr. Blackwell’s.”

Ugh, if Anna ever heard that name again it would be too soon. “Tell her I don’t feel like it. She knows damn well her goon turned me into a block of ice, and I had to keep Alex alive. I’ll be more than happy to go tomorrow. Today I need my rest.” The guard sighed. “Anna, please don’t make me force you.” Anna closed her eyes and curled up in the bed. She really didn’t want to hurt the guard, or to be hurt herself. It was a lot of unnecessary pain. Maybe, Maxwell had been right. Maybe she was hurting the wrong people with her actions. “Fine, fine, no sense in trying to kill both of us today. You don’t want to feel like me right now, anyway.”

That almost knocked the guard off his feet. Anna wasn’t going to fight him? Maybe she really was just tired as she said. Normally a companion visit would have had her fighting like a hellcat. She’d hated being treated like someone’s toy or forced girlfriend. No one had wanted her of course since Anna learned to turn her power into a weapon. He really couldn’t blame them, the prospect of her finding a butcher knife or something and slicing herself up, just to throw it on whoever was antagonizing her. It was truly like something out of a horror movie. He wasn’t too thrilled about the prospect of having to tell Anna, none of the guards were. He’d pulled the short straw.

Anna sighed and hunted the room for her flats. They’d put her back into the regular uniform. Just as well. She hated that stupid nurse uniform. Once she had them on, Anna looked at the guard “What floor, which door?” It was a no nonsense tone, she wasn’t fighting it by trying to run off to the wrong floor and claiming she didn’t hear it correctly. This too surprised the guard. In the past she was always trying to weasel out of it somehow. He chalked it up to Anna being really tired. She looked like she needed to sleep for a week. “Fourth floor. Third door on the left.” He replied Anna blinked “Wasn’t that room empty? I mean after Linda got demoted?” The guard shrugged. “It’s what I was told, Anna”

Well whatever brave soul had requested her, Anna wasn’t in any mood for their crap. All she wanted was to sleep. She stumbled down the hall and the guard spoke into his radio. “She’s on her way to you. She’s not fighting. She’s worn out, which is probably why. I’d just stay out of her way, she’s exceedingly grumpy. Not that I blame her. I feel for whoever she’s going to see.” An affirmative came across the radio. Still he had to wonder. Was this Anna being tired, or did something out there change her?

It hadn’t taken long to get to her destination. The guard on the fourth floor had quickly and wordlessly gotten out of her way. Just as well. Anna didn’t feel like dealing with him either. She knocked on the door, too tired to even be in a foul mood. She didn’t care who answered as long as they let her sleep. When Alan opened the door, the surprise almost snapped her out of her drained state. “You requested me?” She was, surprised. “And why are you here?”

Alan led her into the room before answering questions. “Anna, I’m sorry Dr. Blackwell made you come up here. I don’t know what she was thinking.” He frowned. This couldn’t be the best time to tell her that it was partially his fault she was back here, his and Scott’s. The two of them were the people Anna had trusted most in this place. They had both betrayed her, even if it was under orders. “Can I get you anything?” Anna mumbled sleepily “A bed, a pillow, and being left alone would be great.” Alan nodded and led her to his bedroom, and the huge bed inside. Anna was asleep before he even had a chance to whisper a good night.

Julie fluttered down, looking triumphant. “Her first night here and already she’s asleep before you.” Alan made a shooing motion at Julie. “Be nice, or leave. She’s had a rough day and you know it.” Julie had to give him that one. “I thought you might like to know. Miriam put Lexi with Sarah. Now the odd thing is, Aside from Lexi being so well behaved already that Sarah is a weird choice, Sarah asked for Lexi.” Alan did a double take. “Sarah… asked?” Sarah had never asked for anyone. Why did she want Lexi? Julie nodded. “I looked in on them for a second.” She blushed. “Umm… I probably shouldn’t say more.” Alan wasn’t certain he wanted to hear more. He knew what Sarah’s power was. He could imagine.

After turning off the bedroom light, Alan left Anna to sleep and motioned Julie along. “Anything else exciting going on?” Julie thought for a second “Well now that you asked, I saw the oddest thing. This little mouse shaped robot keeps following Lexi around. It was hiding under her bed when I checked on her the first time. And I’ve seen it in the air vents a couple of times. It’s too advanced to be one of Scott’s. It seems intelligent.” Alan shrugged “Maybe it’s Mr. Maxwell’s. Scott told me he and Dr. Blackwell were fighting.”

Maxwell and Dr. Blackwell fighting, that had to be more interesting than not being able to tease Alan. Julie wasn’t giving up just yet though. “You’re not drooling all over her yet?” Alan shot her a look. “You know it’s not like that. Yes she’s cute, but if I wanted an amazing body, there are several girls here that outrank Anna in the complete hotness scale. Not to say I don’t like her body.” Julie smirked at his stumbling. It was a male thing. They couldn’t just admit they appreciated a woman’s body and mind. They had to dance around the issue like there was no right way to say it. As long as they didn’t say it to some random woman he just ran into, the girl would appreciate being told that. Well ok, it also required they didn’t say it as stupidly as Alan just had.

With Anna asleep, and Alan getting exceptionally irritated every time Julie teased him, there wasn’t much to do around here. “Maybe I should keep an eye on Dr. Blackwell” Julie suggested. Alan nodded, and the usual about letting him know, blah blah blah. Hopefully whatever Dr. Blackwell was doing was more interesting. Alan went back into his bedroom and sat softly on the opposite edge of the bed, as not to disturb the angel sleeping in his bed. He’d have a lot to answer for in the morning, but for now, he could enjoy this rare opportunity. Alan decided that if she hated him in the morning, after he explained everything, he wouldn’t make her come back. Not because he didn’t want to be a ghost, but because he cared too much for this girl to force anything on her.

Morning came. Amy put on a bathrobe and started some coffee. Something had bugged her since she’d found Vicki again about this whole thing, Marcus’ choice of people to surround Alex with. Now one could look at it from the perspective of, Mouse was a security expert, and Vicki was experienced in dealing with all manner of scum and a crack shot. She wasn’t shabby hand to hand either. Both technological and detective skills would seemingly make the pair the perfect bodyguards. However all of them had lost most or all of their family. The three women were alone in the world.

From what Amy knew about Marcus Dangor, he was a schemer of the highest caliber. Nothing he did was unintentional and without multiple hidden reasons. What were the connections? Maxwell was Mouse’s father. Also Marcus’s brother. Maxwell also hadn’t known he had a daughter. Maxwell also worked with Vivian at this place Alex and Anna had been taken. It was layers on layers of scheming. Turn a potential enemy into an ally. Marcus was setting them all up. He wanted Alex captured, but he needed to stage a grand effort to stop it. Why?

Amy pulled at her lower lip. There were missing pieces, and as much as she hated to do this to her, only Vicki had the answers. Besides it was time she reminded Vicki of everything she’d been taught about being a detective. Vicki was out of control of late, losing her cool entirely too easily. She should have known to sit quietly and keep her anger in check. Maxwell would have still been on guard, but he would expect Vicki to be a hothead. There were too many schemers. Mouse might have answers too, and the only way to get to Mouse was through Vicki.

Vicki’s phone rang. She stared at it, drowsy and annoyed. She hadn’t slept well last night, and someone waking her up with a call was not helping. It was Amy’s ring tone. Amy was the last person she wanted to talk to right now. She considered letting it go to voice mail, but if she did that Amy would just come bang on her door. Talking on the phone was better than having to see Amy. Vicki grabbed her cell and flicked it open. “What?” Amy didn’t seem deterred. “I love you too.” There was an edge of sarcasm in her voice. “However, there are things only you and Mouse can tell me. Maxwell too I suppose but I doubt he’s going to be forthcoming with answers.”

Why do you think I care what you want, was what Vicki wanted to say. That too however would just cause Amy to come over, drag her out of bed, and make Vicki talk to her in person. “Look, Vicki. I know you don’t want to talk to me. But you’re going to listen. Even if that means I come over there, tie you to a chair, and slap you upside the head until you come to your senses. I don’t know what’s wrong with you of late, and I doubt you’re going to tell me. What you are going to tell me is Marcus Dangor’s motives.”

She had to be kidding. Why would Vicki know that freakish old man’s motives any better than anyone else? Amy hadn’t expected an immediate answer. First she needed to stir the pot. “He let Alex be captured, Vicki. He wanted it.” Vicki’s mind churned. It made sense once she thought about it. Pick two people who should be formidable guardians, and had things in common with Alex so she would want to relate to them, and they want to protect her. It would give Vivian a sense of accomplishment and victory and put her off guard to the next play. Vivian would believe she was winning the game and all that she had to do was play defense now. Vicki found she was still a pawn in that bastard’s game of chess.

“So what now? We’re still tied up in this game. Do we abandon them to the place?” Vicki asked. Amy was relieved a little. She had Vicki thinking now. “No, he wants us to go after them. He’d planned that too. There’s something there he wants and it’s neither Alex nor Anna. I doubt seriously that he cares about either one of them. Alex was only the queen, and he made a classic move in chess. Sacrifice the queen so the opponent thinks they have the advantage and are distracted while the other pieces are busy putting the opponent’s king in checkmate.”

Continuing on Amy, was determined to snap Vicki out of this obnoxious state she’d been in. Reminding her she was a detective not a revenge driven beast, was the way to do it. “He’s willing to give Alex up for something more important. I doubt he even cares if we let every kid out of there and ruined Vivian. This isn’t about being vindictive. I think Maxwell is going to have the answer to what Marcus’s final objective is exactly. Whether or not he’ll tell us is debatable.” Vicki agreed. “Marcus is a lot of things, but vindictive isn’t one of them. Revenge isn’t his thing. He’d rather let his opponent fear a counterstrike than actually make one.”

Then it hit Vicki. He was after Amy. Not directly, but what she represented. “I know what it is, Amy. He wants you.” For once Amy was taken by shock. Not only had it been plainly obvious, but Vicki caught it first. The objective made sense now, but not the means, until she pieced together the last piece of the puzzle. “He wants the cloning technology, or at the very least an active clone to try and reverse engineer it. Mouse would be just the one to do that for him. If she couldn’t build it herself, she could draw up blueprints, because he knew damn well Maxwell would never give it up willingly, but he might show Mouse how or at the very least design one herself. Then he effectively becomes immortal. We likely destroy Maxwell’s machine in the attack on the place, or even if we didn’t, he had the same technology and could continue to fight his shadow war.”

Silence followed, it was almost as if the two didn’t need to speak. They knew was the other thought. Vicki said it first. “We can’t tell Mouse. If we do, Maxwell becomes paranoid and makes us abort. He’d be willing to sacrifice Alex and Anna too to keep Marcus from getting the technology. He’d be willing to sacrifice us as well, to ensure we didn’t go after it anyway. Marcus chose people who didn’t exist, or were supposed to be dead, so if and when we did die, no one would really notice. If they did, what would they do about it? Alex would be the only one someone might react to, but even then, if no one reported her disappearance, because she was a reclusive woman anyway and had few friends, no one would notice. She’d just fade into obscurity.”

It was genius. It made all of his puppets expendable. Marcus had probably even calculated that Vivian would pull something like cloning Amy and somehow finding her memories and personality to place in the clone’s mind to throw Vicki off balance.

That would give him a backup plan in capturing Amy and getting Mouse to figure it out. It would give Mouse something she would want to try and design. It would be a challenge for her, when everything else was too easy. There were layers upon layers of plotting and scheming. Marcus was a master planner and a maniac. He would let people think his plans were all failing when in fact they were actually succeeding. Victory was the opponent’s they’d get sloppy because Marcus couldn’t hurt them anymore, and he’d win his final objective, and anyone who died in the process, be damned.

. For once, Vicki was willing to let Amy take the lead “Now that we know the rules to the game, what’s the next step?” Vicki asked. Amy had dealt with plenty of master planners in her day and she was sure Vicki had too. This was almost beyond both of them and like nothing she’d ever seen. “I’m not sure. We go ahead with the raid as planned. We can’t assume Maxwell is helping or that he is being manipulated. He hates Vivian and has been making a show of it, but he is somewhat flamboyant. We also can’t assume he really is Mouse’s father. Even if he were it’s somewhat irrelevant. Marcus needs Mouse to trust in someone. He knows she won’t trust him, Alex is just there to give her a goal, and there’s nothing the rest of us can offer Mouse that Marcus cares about.”

Something else crossed Vicki’s mind and she interjected. “He had to know we’d figure this out. Together, you and I are too good. He wouldn’t take a risk like that unless he knew it wouldn’t affect his plans.” That too made sense to Amy. Vicki was finally back to her old self. “He probably assumes there’s not a lot we can do to disrupt them. He knows you won’t abandon Alex to that place. It’s not in your nature to accept losing. The guns were just something to give you incentive to save Alex, at least until you became attached to her. Once they weren’t needed anymore, it was a way to lure Vivian into action by opening the door to her desires.”

Amy continued “Marcus also needs Maxwell to trust Mouse. So either he purposely hid Mouse from him years ago, which I wouldn’t rule out, or he played up on some desire he knew about of Maxwell’s and when he found Mouse he knew he had just what he needed. The former seems more likely, since I doubt Marcus would rely on the outside chance of finding a tech genius like Mouse, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say he couldn’t just make one. If he could why would he bother going through all these hoops?”

Something wasn’t right. Vicki needed to point this out. “If Maxwell was in on it why not just ask him… nevermind.” Thinking it through, Vicki realized it was a silly question. Marcus knew Maxwell wouldn’t give him the technology. Who in their right mind would? But he could play on his rivalry with Vivian. “We still haven’t determined the next step. But sadly, I think it’s going to be, play the game a while.”

Amy had drawn the same conclusion. “Yeah, Marcus can’t be so good he thought of everything. We just have to find the opening. We can’t let that man be immortal. He’s got goals after that, and I don’t want to try and guess what they are. I’m just going to assume they aren’t beneficial to anyone but himself.” Vicki sighed. “Then we have to go through with this.” Vicki thought of the silver necklace, which had been loaned to her, still hidden in her dresser. “Besides, I have something very important to Alex that I need to return to her.” It was decided, they would play along for now. It took Vicki a moment longer to realize what Amy had been doing, a subplot of her own. “Thank you, Amy. I needed it.” With that she hung up. All she could do for now was wait.

Maxwell had also realized Marcus’s over arcing plan. He wanted that cloning technology. He couldn’t design it, but he could build it. He needed Mouse for that. He’d given Mouse, something even she hadn’t known she wanted. Family, and now he’d planned on taking it away from her. No, not Alex, Maxwell himself. Even though he didn’t want to admit it, Maxwell had wanted it too.

Marcus needed Maxwell to die. It didn’t matter how. It could have been he’d planted some suggestions in Reynolds’ mind to make her even more revenge driven than usual. Perhaps Vivian would finally get sick of him, and just off him. Maybe he’d be taken down by one of the psychics when they went to save Anna and Alex. Regardless, he’d planned on getting the two of them attached, giving each something the other wanted, even if they didn’t know it, and then taking it away from them.

The knowledge that Amy was a clone with intact memories would make the distraught Mouse want to design and build her own similar device. But she wouldn’t be able to. She could design biomechanical devices, but not build them. The design notes in her lab with the frustrated margin scribbles had been proof of that. As he thought of it he pulled the tiny auto-doc device he’d healed Vicki with the day he captured her, and rolled it over in his fingers. Would Mouse be overjoyed to see her designs become reality, or frustrated she couldn’t do it herself? It was so hard to say.

Once she realized again that she couldn’t make her amazing new design work, there would only be one person left she knew she could turn to, Marcus Dangor. He would double cross Mouse, or maybe Mouse would threaten him enough that he would let her have her clone of Maxwell. He doubted it mattered to Marcus. As long as Marcus had Mouse to hold over him, Maxwell wouldn’t act.

But why, what was all of this about? Marcus didn’t want to be immortal. He already was in a manner of speaking. In his current state he could inhabit anybody or anything whenever he wanted. The house was just his anchor for now. Marcus had others and as long as he had a scrap of that anchor he could never die.

Of course! Sharon! He wanted the only woman he’d ever actually loved more than himself, back, and he was willing to sacrifice his daughter to make it happen. Besides he probably figured he could tell Sharon how he masterminded Alex’s rescue after Vivian had kidnapped their daughter in a jealous rage, making him the hero. It sounded like the twisted crap Marcus would do. Cover his true plot with a bunch of fake goals, manipulate his enemies into doing exactly what he wanted, and then take the credit as the hero at the end.

Maxwell had sensed Sharon’s presence, in the house. No, Sharon in effect, was the house. But the torment of being in such a prison had twisted her mind a little. Marcus could use Anna to fix that. Had his plan gone back 16 years? Did he know Sharon was going to die and had linked her soul to the house? Or was he just protecting her in case Vivian decided it would be cute to take revenge. Then as a side joy, and slap in the face, make Vivian the catalyst that would bring Sharon back? That too, sounded like something Marcus would do.

The origins of it all were a twisted love story that would lead to the creation of ‘The Company’. They were just out of graduate school, three exceptional people. All had graduated at the top of their class with bright futures ahead, Vivian and the Dangor brothers, Marcus and Maxwell. Maxwell was a master of biochemistry with a knack for engineering. His talents allowed him to build seemingly anything, even things that were akin to super science. His brother, Marcus, had a similar knack but leaned more towards the mechanical side. However his powers leaned towards showy feats of mysticism rather than technology. His power mirrored his ego perfectly and catered to his career to be. Vivian was a psychology major and her powers seemed to manifest as an array of psychic powers. Vivian had loved Marcus more than life itself. She’d just never gotten the nerve to tell him. Marcus had his eyes on another girl, Sharon, a gymnast who was working on an education degree. Vivian had always hated Sharon.

The three of them had always spoken of forming their own company, a pharmaceuticals or perhaps even something bigger, though none of them were particularly business minded. That was the birth of the nameless entity known as “The Company” that was now the host of Vivian and Maxwell’s particular interests. Oh it had names, lots of them. But they were all linked circuitously and no one of them gave any indication what the core of it all was.

Maxwell had minored in sociology. The way humans interacted, the things they put value on, and the things humans would do for those valued ideas and objects fascinated him. He learned how to manipulate people through that, and quickly he had a host of loyal employees who owed him something for the better life he could provide for them. It was why he’d been CEO of the shadow cabinet of ‘The Company’ for so long. Half the board owed him something. But Maxwell got cocky, thought he was untouchable, and made mistakes. Now, he just worked for the thing he had founded.

Then there was Marcus. He wanted to be an outside investor. He saw a potential in Sharon. A potential for fame and fortune, she was meant for the stage, and he could put her there. Marcus had always like leaving people in awe of his feats. Being an escape artist suited him. Sharon’s flexibility from being a gymnast made her the perfect ‘lovely assistant’. Thus was born one of the largest acts in magic. His stunts became stuff of legend. Anyone could be Houdini these days. You had to be much bigger than that to survive in the escape artist bracket. The danger, both real and imagined had to be extreme. Marcus could handle that easily, and Sharon’s charm and wits would make the rest of the show.

Maxwell had always suspected it was Vivian who’d rigged the device that had killed Sharon. She hadn’t done it directly of course. Vivian had no mechanical talents of her own. A hypnotic suggestion, maybe implanted in a dream of one of the technicians, this was within her capabilities. Marcus had originally wanted to inspect everything himself prior to show time. As the shows became bigger and bigger, he just didn’t have time anymore. Alex helped a lot, but there was only so much a thirteen year old girl could catch. Maxwell heard she watched the whole thing happen from the side of the stage. It must have been devastating.

For years Marcus had been training Alexandra, and later another little girl, named Lydia. Lydia was brought in, partially to be a friend for Alex, but also because she had a knack for mechanical things and could be an extra pair of hands. Lydia worked on and off for the Dangors as her schedule and parents allowed, usually during school breaks, up until her father died in a mysterious car accident. It was the same year Sharon had died.

By the age of fifteen, both girls’ lives had changed drastically. Alexandra was the new ‘lovely assistant’ and Lydia had run away from home after her father’s death. Someone had made her records cease to exist, probably Marcus, and within the year she became known only as Mouse. As good as she was, Alexandra wasn’t Sharon. Marcus tried to spice up the act by having Alexandra perform the stunts, especially now that he was getting into his fifties, and his reactions weren’t what they used to be. The critics were panning the show, they even said while Alexandra’s talent surpassed her father’s the show was simply no good.

The reason was simple. Alexandra was never meant to be on stage, she knew it, the audience knew it, and the critics knew it. Her abilities as an escape artist were an amazing combination of her mother’s flexibility and her father’s training. However as an actress and performer, she failed miserably. Sharon had been born performing in front of people all her life and Marcus was a natural in the spotlight because he liked attention. Alex had been backstage all of hers, and wasn’t used to getting lots of attention. She didn’t know how to play a crowd. Alex was just going through the correct motions of what she should do, with zero flair. The flair was what sold it, and made the difference between a crazy person failing to off themselves in creative ways, and an awe inspiring escape.

Finally, there was Vivian. If there was ever a person one could attach the title of bitter spinster to and it be a perfect fit, it was her. There were days Maxwell expected to see Vivian dangling from her office ceiling on a strand of silk after having grown six extra appendages and building a lovely web in one corner. After she was ‘rejected’ by Marcus, well if one defined rejected as she never opened up to him to tell him how she felt and thusly blamed Sharon for taking him away, then, rejected might apply. Vivian, at any rate, went into a bitter seclusion. Vivian, her talents lied in the mental prowess. Her search for meaning her in life, led her to gathering up the few scientists who believed in psychic phenomenon and were willing to research them.

Since she was a founding member of ‘The Company’ she forced Maxwell and the board set her up with an underground facility, where she would use the skills she learned from her degree in pyschology to set herself up with a place where she could breed, teach, control, and eventually, sell talents to buyers. She changed her name to Dr. Miriam Blackwell. No one was real sure why. Vivian had a PhD. It wasn’t like she needed to make up a name to put Dr. in front of. Perhaps she just wanted a new identity in a desperate attempt to make herself believe she was ready for a new life.

After finding several talents in their twenties and thirties, Vivian paid them very well to have sex and turn their children over to her for research. Signed documents set the legal grounds for people who tried to change their minds. Expensive lawyers ensured that they did not get their children back. Scott was among one of those kids. However that wasn’t enough for Vivian. Many of the kids born this way looked positive to have powers, strengthening Vivian’s theory that it was hereditary. However, she wanted someone with her talents, her spark and someone on her level of power. First, she looked to Maxwell. Maxwell refused. He wasn’t getting any further involved in her crazy schemes down in that underground freak show of hers. This began the bitter rivalry between Maxwell and Vivian.

What Maxwell would agree to, is that if she found someone willing to donate the genetic material, he would ensure she would have the baby. So Vivian swallowed her pride and sought out Marcus. She eventually found him in Vegas. Marcus humiliated her, and worse, in front of Sharon. The first thing he did was to show Vivian his three year old girl, Alexandra. Their show had taken almost two years off, to allow Sharon to deliver and recover, but already the agents had pushed to . Vivian pleaded with Marcus, begging him to give her the genetic material for the baby. Nonchalantly Marcus agreed, in front of Sharon no less, who was trying to show Vivian some false sympathy. All the while she showed off Alexandra like some sort of trophy, taunting Vivian. All because she had to go to Marcus begging on her knees for a child of her own. At least that’s how it happened in Vivian’s eyes.

The truth was far more likely that Vivian was jealous that Marcus had a child with Sharon, and had openly discussed things with her concerning Vivian’s proposal, while humiliating her by allowing Vivian to humble herself at his feet. Sharon had agreed, and she did feel true sympathy for Vivian. That night she had a fight with Marcus about his cruel treatment of Vivian. If Sharon had known what Vivian planned to do with the child, she probably would have forced Marcus to make ‘The Company’ shut down Vivian’s entire operation. Alexandra got her kind-heartedness from Sharon. If Marcus ever had a heart, it had died with his wife.

Maxwell held to his word and through that twisted concoction, Anna was born, though she displayed powers, and they were amazing for psychic talents, if self destructive, they were still, just psychic talents. The girl didn’t seem to possess her mother’s or her father’s spark. But that horrible little child of Sharon’s had talent. Vivian had always overlooked Anna’s amazing ability to bounce back from any wound, and far faster than any human should. Her ability to even heal her mind after absorbing someone’s mental illness should have been something of a clue. Vivian was too wrapped up in her jealousy to even notice. Sharon a woman who at best possessed minor powers, and could barely access them, could have a child powers? But Vivian’s born of good parent stock resulted in a child with self destructive powers? Vivian had waited thirteen years to hope her child might develop the same spark Alex had. Even if Alex didn’t realize that she possessed this power.

Anna became a name and a number, lost amongst the other nine kids born in the facility. Of the ten, only four even survived, the other six hadn’t displayed any powers. No one but Vivian knew what had happened to them. Maxwell wanted to think maybe they were returned to their parents. The truth of the matter was that they were probably killed and their bodies dumped in that hellhole of a swamp she’d chosen as a location ‘for security reasons’. The guards who’d dumped the bodies had probably been disposed of themselves. Human life meant nothing to Vivian. Of the three of them, she was probably the most sick and twisted. Anna and Scott were the only two of the original ten still at the facility. Vivian claimed the other two had been sold to very interested buyers. Scott and Anna seemed to have much more potential to be ‘sold’ to anyone.

The thing that Vivian had always overlooked was that Anna did have more. No other talent had shown self regeneration on the scale Anna did, or at all. Nor had any talent shown any sort of second power, ever. Vivian was too busy being clouded with rage and jealousy to even notice, Sharon died shortly after Anna’s power, or lack of a satisfactory one, manifested. Marcus was always planning ahead. Did he really expect this, or was it too just another cog in his twisted machinations? Aside from that Maxwell wondered what would have happened had Vivian taken notice of her daughter and nurtured her powers. Would Anna actually have displayed something more than healing and regeneration properties? If there was anything more inside her, it was locked deep away now, buried under years of torment, with little chance of ever showing itself.

Her child was only a psychic, worthless to her overall goals. There was only one thing left to her. Vivian would have to take Marcus’s child. Marcus had done something to the sample. She was certain of it. He was humiliating her again. She would take everything from him for this, his wife, his daughter, and his precious show, just as he had taken everything from her.

Saying Vivian had gotten off the deep end, after Anna’s power had manifested was the biggest understatement anyone could make. Most people she had some screws loose anyway, after that it seemed to multiply. Her facility became even more of a prison camp. She began to draw in other kids, on the premise of teaching them to use their powers. Frustrated parents would often willingly turn their children over, signing papers to put them in the care of her special center, which promised them they would receive the best of care. When the parents wouldn’t cooperate, children went missing. The parents either suffered accidents or were blackmailed into staying quiet. Scott could find anything, on anyone who existed on the grid. Vivian took full advantage of this talent, all the while berating Anna for not being more useful to her.

As Maxwell considered everything, he realized that there had been emptiness in his own life. He’d had women, power, and the distraction of building his devices. Still something was missing. He leaned back in his chair, watching Mouse work. She had certainly done something towards filling that void, but was this girl really his daughter? Or was this another of Marcus’s twisted jokes? Maybe it was both. That wasn’t beyond Marcus. Telling the truth, just so someone would wonder if it was the truth or not. Making people doubt themselves bred weakness. The sort of weakness Marcus used to his advantage. Did it really matter if Mouse was his daughter or not? Both of them wanted to believe it was true. Even if it wasn’t, Maxwell doubted it would matter. Both of them were happy with the idea.

“What now?” These words had become the mantra of Vicki, Amy, and Maxwell. Marcus’s plan was unveiled. Just as Marcus knew it would be. Marcus wasn’t working with simpleton stooges he could just order around. He was playing with people’s emotions, because this lot, while fitting into his plans like cogs in a clockwork machination, was far too intelligent and independent. He needed a way to rein them in. Creating situations where, even when they figured it out, they knew damn well there was nothing to do but play into his hands. Marcus enjoyed doing that too. Maxwell had to assume Amy and Vicki knew. Mouse wasn’t a detective like the others. She was too focused on her own world to see how anyone else might be using her. Mouse not knowing was the key to his plans. The fact that no one could tell her, Marcus probably delighted in too.

If they told Mouse, she run away from it all as her pride would refuse to let her be used again, and they needed her to complete the objective. Afterwards she’d lament not saving Alex from that place, and attempt the rescue on her own. That would result in her getting captured and then killed after she refused to work for Vivian. Mouse was good. This place was better. It was beyond her skills to do it alone.

While Mouse didn’t show it, she needed the little comforts of having people around her. People she could trust. Something her all her engineering and thievery skills couldn’t bring her. But she would also want to protect them, even if it meant losing them forever. Marcus was counting on Mouse’s eccentric ways to give him everything he needed. She was both the lynchpin and the weakness in his plan.

Alex woke, snuggled close to Sarah. Mouse had never made her feel like this. She didn’t know why, but she had fallen hard and fast for Sarah. Maybe it was the memories of Japan, mixed with just the right traits in Sarah. Whatever it was, she’d never been happier in her life. She snuck a kiss, which woke Sarah. “Mmm. Now there’s something to wake up to.” Sarah cooed at her partner. Alex had been everything she wanted, and more. A trophy, a lover, and most importantly, someone she actually wanted to share her body and soul with. She could have taken from anyone she wanted. Alex gave willingly. It had made for the most amazing evening she’d ever had.

But she would have to give her up for a little while soon. It was the rules. Companions were allowed overnight visits, but they had to be back in time for morning training. There was a way though. The training was to raise loyalty. She could do it in another way, and not have to give up this sweet flower. She stroked Alex’s cheek. “They’ll make you go back soon. But, I might be able to change that. Do you promise to be a good girl, stay here, and not cause trouble?”

Alex’s heart skipped a beat. Of course she would do that. All she could do to answer was press her head against Sarah’s chest and nod vigorously. Words wouldn’t come. Sarah kissed Alex’s forehead. “I knew you would. But, you’re going to have to let go of me so I can go talk to Dr. Blackwell. She might get mad at me for not restraining you, but, I suspect even if I did you could get out anyway. “So there’s no sense in putting you through that indignity.” She put a finger to Alex’s lips to stop her from even trying to discuss the matter. Alex in turn kissed her finger softly. Sarah felt the warmth of a blush on her cheeks. “Such a playful girl, come now, I’m not the escape artist who could wiggle out of my girlfriend’s grip. Though other than I must I can’t think of any good reasons why I should want to.”

Alex smiled, and teased a little by squeezing tighter, pretending she wouldn’t let go, well really only half pretending. Still she could make breakfast while Sarah was gone. She hadn’t wanted to cook for anyone in a long time. Not since her mother died. Sarah reluctantly and slowly pulled herself free from Alex’s grip. “Alright now, if you want to stay you have to let go.” That had convinced Alex. A quick shower later, Sarah was out the door to go negotiate terms. Alex ran off to the kitchen to see what she might prepare.

A pounding headache woke Anna. As she looked around bleary eyed she wondered where she was. It wasn’t her room. She only vaguely remembered being forced out of her room and upstairs by the guards. Well, forced was a strong word. They didn’t actually touch her. Something about a companion, someone had some audacity to request her, and then make her come to their room in the shape she was in. At least she was still clothed. Whoever it was hadn’t tried to take advantage of her weary state. Something from the kitchen smelled good, and her stomach reminded her she was hungry. They hadn’t fed her much during her recuperation.

Anna rolled out of bed. Her body protested as she forced herself dizzily to her feet. Maybe she wasn’t as recovered as she thought. She put a hand against the wall to steady herself. Well whoever it was had explaining to do. But after breakfast, no sense in potentially losing food, and she doubted she could summon her power to press the issue. Anna drug herself down the hallway. A familiar voice greeted her, and told her breakfast would be ready in a minute. She couldn’t place it. Between just waking up and her migraine, thinking wasn’t a luxury she could afford right now. She managed to crawl into a chair at the dining room table and wondered if she would collapse before the food was even ready.

When Alan came out with two plates of food, Anna almost fell out of her chair. “Alan?” She gasped. “You’re only a three? Why am I your companion? Threes don’t get companions!” The fact that the apartment was too big to be a three’s apartment hadn’t dawned on her yet. Alan sighed and set the food in front of her. “Because I’m a four now, eat and I’ll explain after breakfast. You need your strength. I’m under orders to keep you here until you fully recover. I have no idea what Dr. Blackwell was thinking.”

Being too tired and hungry to argue, Anna practically ate her fork she ate so fast. The food was delicious, or maybe she was just so hungry anything would taste good. It had been simple, eggs, sausage, juice, and toast. She wondered when Alan learned to cook. He’d always taken his meals in the cafeteria as far as she knew. After breakfast Alan helped her up and onto the couch. He sat close, within striking distance, but he was willing to take the risk.

Telling her was going to be the hardest thing he’d ever done. But he wasn’t going to lie to her. Alan sighed as he built up the courage. “Anna, the first thing you need to know is I was under orders to do all of this. You know how Dr. Blackwell loves it when we disobey orders.” Anna frowned. Whatever followed couldn’t be good. Alan swallowed hard. “Scott and I, we were made to track you, once you got off the train. Both of us lost you for a while, but then for some reason, we picked back up your trail. We led Dr. Blackwell right to you.” Alan looked down at the couch. “I was worried about you. I would have kept an eye on you anyway. I just wouldn’t have told her. Once Mary told me she’d abandoned you to make your own way, I could have killed her. I couldn’t sleep. I knew you didn’t know how things worked. I was terrified we’d lose you.”

On a certain level, it was sweet, but Anna had mixed feelings about the whole thing. Alan was her friend, and she knew he wouldn’t purposely try and hurt her. But she also felt a little betrayed that he’d cooperated that much with Dr. Blackwell. He’d never been overly enthusiastic about doing it before. “I would have had someone watching sooner, but I didn’t know where you’d gone. Sending spirits out in every direction would have been fruitless. Scott found you at the station when you bought a ticket, and told me that you were safely on a train. I was going to send a spirit out to watch and made sure you made it, but Scott insisted he was capable of watching you, and we didn’t need to attract undue attention. I wasn’t certain what I could do if you didn’t, I doubted Scott could do anything either. I just had to hope you’d make it.”

Alan held back the urge to cry. If he’d ever been this scared, it was when Mary sent the news. “Then Dr. Blackwell told me to find you, and if I hadn’t well…” Alan fidgeted nervously. “When she told me that she was going out personally, it didn’t seem like the time to decide to defy her. Anna, I…” Alan closed his eyes and swallowed hard again. Saying this was going to be even harder than telling her he’d betrayed her “I love you, Anna. I have for a very long time. You’ve just been, so… oblivious I didn’t know any other way to get your attention or to get you alone long enough to tell you. So I requested you. I didn’t expect… them to do this to you.”

Flabbergasted wasn’t quite the word Anna would have used to describe how she felt, but it was good enough. She wasn’t certain how she felt before, now she was just completely bowled over. Alan loved her? Why hadn’t he told her sooner? Then again, it was just like he said. Anna had never been interested in anyone that way before and she hadn’t even noticed any attempts to flirt. She wasn’t certain she was any more ready now. But the gesture was so sweet, and he was bearing his soul to her. Tears formed in her eyes. “Alan, I… I don’t know how I feel. It’s all so much, and I can barely focus enough to think as it is…”

He wasn’t going to win her heart by letting her go on like this. Alan put a finger to Anna’s lips to silence her. “I don’t need an answer, Anna. It’s enough to know you don’t hate me for what I did, at least for now.” Anna nodded. “No. I don’t hate you Alan, or Scott either. I’m not even sure I would have defied Dr. Blackwell the way she was. But, the fact she was there, in person, directing the battle…” She shuddered at the thought of Dr. Blackwell that driven. “No one believes me, Alan, but Lexi. She is my sister. Half sister to be exact, we share a father, and Dr. Blackwell, she’s my mother.”

Alan nodded, his words were soft. He tried not to consider the idea of Dr. Blackwell being anyone’s mother. No one really knew who Anna’s father really was. It was feasible that he’d had a fling with Dr. Blackwell. If the rumors were true about the original ten, it made sense. Anna had been one of them after all. “I believe you, Anna. Lexi doesn’t though.” Anna’s shoulders drooped, and tears kept falling. “I didn’t have time to tell her Alan. The stupid house kept me occupied, and by the time I could get to her, everything started happening at once, and we had to run” Alan embraced her, what she was saying now made no sense. She probably was a little delusion. Still, she needed him now, even if she wouldn’t admit to it. He was a little shocked when she hugged him back, but it was a start. “She’s here with us, Anna and she’s ok. You’ll get your chance.” He offered comfortingly, “Please don’t cry.”

Anna managed to calm herself. She didn’t break Alan’s embrace immediately. She liked it, it was warm, and felt nice in a way she couldn’t describe. But she wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about him. She wanted that embrace to last just a little longer. But she didn’t want to hurt him by giving him a false sense of hope. Anna was certain she couldn’t be what he wanted her to be. She broke away and wiped at her eyes. “Do you know where she is now?” Alan nodded “She’s with Sarah. The whole deal with that is strange on a lot of fronts. Sarah asked for her, and Alex didn’t need to be broken. She could have made at least the third floor on her own, for just behaving, by the end of the week.” Anna nodded. Alex didn’t seem the sort to fight them. Sulk definitely, but not fight them, not like Anna had. Alex was too meek and she didn’t want to hurt people.

Looking at Alan through heavy eyelids, Anna considered how she did feel about him. He was cute and he’d always tried to be there for her. If there was anyone she might fall in love with, he would be high on the list. But she didn’t know how to fall in love. Or what love was like. She’d never been loved. Feared, hated, she had been those things. That she understood. She knew how to be kind to people, she liked the pleasant reactions a lot more than from the ones that hated her. Anna had friends, and understood friendship, but love? How did she love? She’d never felt love, or been in love, or even know what it was outside of an abstract concept. “I… I don’t know how, Alan. I’m sorry. I don’t want to hurt you. But, I don’t think I can love you back. Not the way you want, and not because maybe, if I could, you wouldn’t be someone I’d want to love. It’s just, I don’t know how.”

Alan timidly reached out and stroked Anna’s hair. When she didn’t pull away, he continued. Her hair was soft and felt nice as it slid between his fingers. With Dr. Blackwell as a mother, how could she know what love is? Dr. Blackwell wouldn’t have loved Anna, or anyone else for that matter. She couldn’t have given Anna the things a child would want, attention and love. Dr. Blackwell was a cold-hearted and crazy old bat. Scott had received the same treatment, and he’d become distant, absorbed in his computer world.

Anna had taken to rebelling against authority, trying to buck the system. But now that she’d been outside, she was scared and something about her had changed. He could see it, she didn’t know where she belonged, but at least here, she had familiarity and some sort of structure in her life. Love would be hard for her. He would have to be the one to teach her.

This wasn’t going to be fun. Sarah dreaded negotiating with Dr. Blackwell about anything. She wasn’t known for bending the rules. Even if she seemed to make them up as she went along at times. However, Alex was important enough to Sarah to risk facing down Dr. Blackwell. That fact alone amazed her. Still among all the companions she’d had over the years, this was the first one she’d actually wanted. That was worth fighting for wasn’t it? Dr. Blackwell kept her waiting for what seemed like forever.

Miriam barely looked up from the paperwork she was working on as Sarah entered. “Is there is a problem with Alexandra? As long as you can instill discipline into her without causing her to turn rebellions you have my permission to take any steps necessary. You’re dismissed.” Sarah didn’t leave. Miriam frowned and put down her pen. “I thought I told you to leave, Sarah. Why are you still here?” Sarah bit her lower lip. This wasn’t going well. “Dr. Blackwell, I have a request.” Miriam raised a brow. Sarah had never asked for anything before. Miriam decided it couldn’t hurt to entertain her for the moment.

Sarah had never been so frightened in her life. She was used to being in control, not being stared down She began to unconsciously activate her powers. Miriam wasn’t amused. “Sarah, turn off your power then tell me what you want. I’m losing my patience.” Sarah nodded quickly as she complied, and nervously started to talk “Well, Alex, Dr Blackwell I…” She shook her head rapidly. “I mean, Dr. Blackwell, I would like to keep Alex with me. I umm… I think it would be beneficial to her?” Miriam closed her eyes slowly. This was becoming tiresome and she had little patience for cowardice. “Is that a question, Sarah, or are you trying to suggest a course of action?”

Swallowing hard, Sarah tried to calm her nerves. Dr. Blackwell hadn’t thrown her out, or worse, at least not yet. “It’s a course of action” She offered with some bravado. “I think Alex would benefit more from being in my personal care rather than shuttled back and forth to level 2. She’s well behaved, and I think it would be in our best interests to give her a continued taste of the best we have to offer.”

It didn’t take much to determine Sarah’s real intentions. She actually had feelings for Alexandra. Amusingly the cold hearted, Sarah actually found someone she liked. Enough even to stand up for what she wanted. Sarah also made a good point. Alexandra had become used to creature comforts, and she seemed to have some nostalgic memories of Japan. Keeping Alexandra happy was beneficial to the master plan. “There will be one condition, Sarah. When I need Alexandra to perform breeding duties, you’ll assist in ensuring she complies without resistance.”

Sarah frowned. She wanted to keep Alex for herself, but then, she knew that this would happen eventually. While gay and lesbian relationships were allowed, Dr. Blackwell wanted all of her best talents to breed. When called to do so, arguments were not tolerated, even if they despised their chosen partner or it was not of their sexual preference. It was one of the purposes of the partnership program. Allowing same sex partnerships was simply one of Dr. Blackwell’s bones she threw to placate the alternate lifestyle group. In this case, it was just easier to not fight them. Sarah nodded in agreement. Vivian waved a hand dismissively. “Now, get out of my office.” It was a small victory, but she’d take what she could get. Sarah hurried out of the office before Dr. Blackwell changed her mind.

The months had passed, and Mouse still glared at the blueprints. They continued to defy her and provide the solution she so desperately needed. “Damn it. I can’t do anything with this.” She hung her head in defeat. Maxwell walked over and draped a comforting arm around Mouse’s shoulders. “Mouse, you’ve been at this for months, damn near non-stop. I’ve seen you go days at a time without sleep.” As Mouse looked up at him, he removed his arm. “If I can’t get a temporary break in security, we can’t get everyone in. It’s just too tight for even me.” She tapped the print out of the sixth floor. “All the controls are down here. “I’m good but…” She shook her head “I’ve never even designed anything like this, much less broken into it. Hell, I’ve never seen anything like it.” Mouse hated admitting any system could defeat her.

All his worst fears had been confirmed. Maxwell knew the system was more advanced than anything Mouse had ever seen. Ironically, it had been better at keeping people out than in. It was as if someone had installed it backwards. This meant he might have to access his ace in the hole. But even Scott had only gotten one, maybe two people out at a time. Mouse sighed and shifted the blueprints around. She was depressed, but refused to be defeated. “There’s one flaw I can see. There’s a backup generator, but it’s got a two minute boot up time. Unfortunately, that means we need someone on the inside, and a way to tell them. I’m sure Anna would help, if she could get access, but there’s still the problem of getting to her. And even then, we have no guarantees she could pull it off.”

It was time to make Mouse think harder. She was slowly getting there on her own. She just needed a little nudge. Maxwell would rather not tap Scott for this. Scott was loyal to Vivian to a point. While Maxwell was more than certain Scott would be willing, Vivian wasn’t a total idiot. She had to suspect Scott was behind at least some of these electrical and security failures, such as the one that allowed Anna to slip out. “Mouse that AI of yours. Where did it get off to? I’ve not seen it since we were at Alex’s mansion.” The gears in Mouse’s head began to turn. Where was that thing? It was watching over Anna last she checked, could it actually have gotten inside?

“Hypothetical theory time, Mouse, let’s say that AI of yours got inside, and let’s assume you could contact it. What are its capabilities?” Mouse rested her elbow on the table and then her head on her downwardly cupped hand. “Well in theory, it could, if it were given the directions to, shut down the primary generator. Once the auxiliary generator kicks in we’ll have power to the elevators and of course the systems that keep fresh air flowing into the place. Of course they’re going to know we’re in there by the time the power comes back on. Unless, well…” She paused. “Again, it’s theory, but in that time, the AI mouse could tap into the security system, and cause it to fail. Just enough, to not be noticeable, loop the camera footage turn off the grids, stuff like that. However I don’t fully know what its capabilities are. For all I know it could insert a virus into the computers controlling the system. The AI is highly intelligent, I could probably tell it, we need to get in, to cause havoc and let it run loose and we’d get a satisfactory result.”

Maxwell nodded. “Can you get in contact with it?” Mouse went to her laptop and typed frantically. Several minutes later she cheered in triumph. “I’m entering the requests now. When do we want this done?” Maxwell looked thoughtful. “Well when do you think we should? We have to mobilize Vicki and Amy. Work out the plan. I mean we’re looking at a frontal assault, even if we’re getting an advantage.” Mouse chewed on her pencil. “I know. I don’t like it either. But the building was designed to keep people in and out. The location, the design, all of it is a stroke of brilliance. American prisons could learn something from this. Anyway, it’s all around bad approach for us and we’re at a disadvantage the entire way. Well, let’s call Vicki, get everyone here and hash it out.”

It took about an hour to gather everyone together and another two to hash out a plan. Mouse wasn’t particularly happy with it. Vicki would be going after Alex. Mouse would be after Anna, despite some protest from Maxwell about it being too dangerous to go after both girls. Alex was the priority. Anna had been there a long time. She could fend for herself in that environment. Mouse wouldn’t hear it. Maxwell would be keeping Vivian irritated and distracted. Amy would be where she was needed most likely with Vicki since Mouse had her bots. Mouse was also to instruct the bot to find someone named Scott in the facility, and tell him just not to react when things went down. But it wasn’t to do it until an hour before they moved. As far as she knew, the AI understood its instructions and would carry them out at the precise time.

The AI would lock down the facility, meaning they wouldn’t have to deal with most of the psychics. Maxwell had explained that even on the level with the most trusted psychics the rooms had been reinforced to resist their powers, including the most powerful pyro and cyrokinetics. All of them had to be in their rooms at a certain time. A lockdown would get all but any sneaking around after hours and the vast majority of the guards out of their way. There were only a few patrols at night since the doors were locked. Escape attempts had been minimal since Anna had been brought back in. Apparently she’d been moved to a level 3 room for the first time since she’d been old enough to rebel. It was like all of their morale had been drained when Anna was brought back in, and had ceased fighting back.

Mouse turned to Vicki and Amy. “So, Anna will either be on the 3^rd floor or the 4^th. Maybe we should send Amy down to floor three. She can get Anna out if that’s where she is. I’ll take the 4^th floor. Vicki, Alex has been with some psychic that has powers over pheromones. Alex has been living with her since, practically she got there.” Mouse looked down, she wanted to say something else, but she couldn’t find the words. “Just use your own discretion on how to handle it.” It wasn’t what she wanted to say, but it would do. Besides Vicki was so cold hearted these days, Mouse wondered if pheromones would even affect her.

It had taken a while to find designate, Scott. Now that it was here, the bot was finding it exceedingly hard to get Scott’s attention. It had climbed into his lap, chittered at him, even climbed on his head and jumped around. There was only one thing left. The bots eyes glowed red, and fired out a tiny laser. Not strong enough to do any real damage. The laser wasn’t something Mouse had installed. The bot had its own ways of upgrading itself.

Scott jumped as something burned his hand. The sudden lurch back into his consciousness gave him a nasty headache. As he rubbed at his forehead, a little silver mouse jumped down and landed on his keyboard. It scampered over the laptop and then plugged its tail into a USB port. Scott looked at it alarmed “Hey! What are you doing to my computer?”

Do Not Be Alarmed

The words flashed on his screen. “Umm… ok.” Scott had seen some tech that would blow most people’s minds. The miniature robot was simply amazing. He reached out to touch it and the mouse reared up and chittered angrily at him.

Don’t Touch Me.

This new message took over his screen. “Fine,” Scott was disappointed but drew his hand back. He really wanted a chance to examine this thing. It was as close as he’d ever gotten to the advanced technology Mr. Maxwell seemed to produce. Though this didn’t seem like one of Mr. Maxwell’s designs. But it was also plugged into his laptop, creating sort of a weird sort of hostage situation. Scott wasn’t willing to give up his computer even for the chance to examine some amazing tech.

Time Is Short. In An Hour There Will Be A Power Outage. Do Not React. I Will Control The Security Systems, And Activate The Lockdown Mode. You Will Not Be Able To Override My Control. When My Purpose Is Done, You May Repair Things.

Its point came across clearly. For whatever reasons, though Scott had his suspicions, someone was breaking in, or out. He didn’t really care. Dr. Blackwell would just have to accept that there was nothing he could do. He even wouldn’t be lying about it this time. Of all the psychics here, Scott was probably the only one who could say he couldn’t do something and expect no repercussions. Dr. Blackwell couldn’t afford Scott to rebel. She also couldn’t afford to fully trust him. So she kept him happy, and as long as he didn’t do anything blatantly defying her, she turned a blind eye. The one time she had tried to punish Scott for something that wasn’t his fault, he took over the computers controlling the air circulation in the facility. It was the last time Dr. Blackwell blamed him unfairly for anything.

Once Scott had agreed the mouse unplugged its tail, and then jumped back up into the ventilation shaft it had come from and was gone. Scott didn’t even hear the clicking of metal on metal as he was certain it was off to somewhere. He knew where it was going, the generator room. Fireworks were going to go off. He wondered if the robot would mind if he piggybacked into the security system, just to watch the action.

Alan sighed longingly at Anna. She was sleeping off another shock therapy treatment of a new recruit. It had been the third one this week. Maybe it was weird, but he enjoyed watching her sleep. She looked so peaceful, and was so beautiful with her honey brown hair flayed out across the pillow. Julie floated into the room and sat down beside him. She usually avoided coming into Alan’s room when Anna was here. She looked at Anna uncomfortably, and then turned to Alan. “Something’s happening. That robot that has been watching you, Anna, and Lexi, just went to Scott, and showed itself.” Alan nodded at her as if he was in another world. Julie frowned and yelled at him “Alan! Pay attention damn it. That robot is up to something.” Alan blinked and mumbled an apology to Julie.

They were coming for Lexi and maybe Anna. Anna had told him about these other two amazing, almost fantastical people she’d made friends with. A woman named Vicki Reynolds. Scott had confirmed the story on her. She was some crazy PI who dressed funny. But despite being weird, she was good. The other, Mouse, while she wasn’t on the grid, she had fan sites dedicated to her, or at least the myth of her. She was certainly a real person, and a known security expert and engineer. As far as anyone knew she had no formal schooling for either. But no real records of her existed. She was, according to her fan sites, the best thief that ever was, but a really weird one. Alan wondered how Anna found all these strange people on the outside. The stories about Mouse’s escapades bordered on the fantastic, some of them were simply unbelievable. Like the one where she broken into the Louver and stolen several famous paintings. However several people pointed out that wasn’t her modus operandi. So that one had been up for debate as to if it really happened.

There were even fanfics pitting her against some of the most amazing detectives, cops, and well a legion of anime characters. Some of them got downright perverse. From what Anna said about Mouse, these stories were way out of character. Anna had apparently gotten inside her head. She described Mouse was a distant, nervous girl. She had a nervous tic where she would show her two front teeth, usually when she was upset. But Mouse was still a very compassionate person. She stole for the thrill, not because she wanted to hurt people. Mouse also had a deep seated fear of drowning. Alan wasn’t real sure why Anna had even mentioned that last bit.

Vicki had the same web treatment as Mouse, with crazy stories about her taking down various mobsters. A lot of them seemed to involve quicksand. One of them involved her getting trapped in a cursed television. She apparently dressed like a normal human during that one. Most of them were written by some character calling themselves Longshot, then later StormWind, and now StormWhisper. Whoever it was, they liked changing their nicks a lot. At least the ones most people liked were written by this person. There were others written by various other sources as well. Vicki had also seemingly come back from the dead, though no real details were given, though most people were skeptical, saying she just faked her death to get out of the spotlight for a while. That had seemed the likely case to Alan too.

It took her a few moments, but Julie finally asked. “Would you die for her?” Alan was caught off guard by the question. “Would I do what now?” Julie motioned at Anna. “Would you die for her?” She repeated the question, slower this time as if Alan hadn’t understood it the first time. Alan looked down into his lap. “I… I don’t know. Probably. Why are you bringing up something so morbid?”

Julie cocked her head at Alan. “You’re going to try to escape with her aren’t you?” It hadn’t crossed his mind, but realistically, given the chance, he would. Anna would need someone to protect her, to show her that the world wasn’t as scary as it had seemed, if she had someone holding her hand until she learned how it worked. “Yeah, I think I would.” Julie nodded, and then she just blurted out “If you die… can I be your girlfriend in the afterlife?” She immediately regretted saying it. “Julie, that’s awful!” Alan yelled at her. Anna stirred a little. “Alan? Is someone there?” She mumbled. Alan had told Anna about Julie before. “It’s just Julie, Anna. Rest, I think you’re going to need all you can get.” Anna rolled back over and was asleep again in no time.

Julie ran off while Alan was distracted. She felt awful for saying that. She had told Alan many times she loved him, and it was no secret that she was very jealous of Anna. He probably hated her now though. She just wanted to be sure that Alan knew what could happen. Something told her tonight was going to be very dangerous for everyone involved. She was a little happy, but mostly afraid she might have new friends in the afterlife. She felt awful about being so selfish and stupid. Julie wanted to let things cool down a while. She couldn’t face Alan right now.

While her method of doing so had been very clumsy, Julie had put a thought into Alan’s head. When they came for Anna, the danger was going to be very real. Dr. Blackwell wasn’t going to let whoever it was out without a fight, and this place was armed to bear. Especially after she’d brought Lexi in, security had been doubled. No one had managed to escape and few even tried. But Alan was certain now, he would die for Anna, not that he wanted to die, but if it was between him or her, the choice was simple. He truly loved her, and no matter what, she would get out of here alive. Even if it meant he didn’t.

The assault was beginning. Mouse had determined the range of the outdoor cameras. Fifty yards, it was a lot of ground to cover in two minutes. It wasn’t humanly possible Especially since they’d had to ditch the van some ways back to ensure they didn’t set off any early warnings. Maxwell had given them a teleportation device so the three of them could make the distance before security came on and destroyed them. The cameras stopped moving. “Now!” Mouse activated the device. But nothing happened. She fought with it a minute “Oh come on you stupid thing. We aren’t going to make it!” She pressed the button as hard as she could and the three of them disappeared. The transporter had disappeared somewhere. Mouse and company appeared at the door of the abandoned storefront. They barely made it inside the building and to the elevator before the backup generators kicked in. “Alright, the mouse should have the elevator ready for us. Everyone knows their parts.”

Amy had never seen Mouse like this. She was fired up, taking command. It seemed so uncharacteristic for her. Still it was interesting to see this aspect of her personality. This fired up passion. If she were ten years older, perhaps, Amy banished the thought from her mind. This wasn’t the time. The doors of the elevator were opening. The three of them quickly piled in. Mouse confirmed everyone’s headset was working. The three were to stay in contact at all times. If anything came up they were to be ready to help the others. The guards should be minimal and the psychics were safely locked in their rooms. As the doors opened on the third floor Amy glanced back at Vicki. The steely gaze in here eyes was downright eerie. “Vicki?” Amy asked gently. “Is everything ok?” Her answer was a sharp nod. As she considered having Vicki switch floors with her or Mouse the doors closed, too late for that now.

Creeping along and keeping to the shadows, Amy wondered why she’d worn this infernal tight red dress. Oh right to get Vicki’s attention. Yeah that had been a good idea. She took a knife out of her sleeve and cut a slit in the side of the skirt. Ruining the dress would be a small price to pay for having movement. Besides she knew better than to try and impress Vicki on a night like this. She checked her belt, gently patting the taser Mouse had given her. It brought her a little comfort. According to Maxwell these guys were armored like turtles. The armor was some crazy mess that Vivian had dreamed up. It would protect the guards from all manner of psychic powers. Buffers to take physical blows from telekinetics, shielding to protect their minds from telepaths, and some sort of heating and cooling devices to render the fire and ice people pretty well useless too.

However there were chinks where one could slide a small handheld taser into. Which of course meant getting close. Amy was a good close combat fighter, but she’d never fought people who could shrug off even her soft style martial arts. Sure she could probably keep them from landing a blow, but throwing someone who’ll just keep getting back up wasn’t going to serve her except in running away. The problem was there wasn’t any where to run. Mouse had also given her a cardkey. The key would tell the mouse bot which door to open when she swiped the card on their electronic locks. Maxwell had mentioned that Mouse’s standard ploy of stealing card keys or tricking the system with a universal card key device wasn’t going to work here. Instead they would need one that sent a signal to the bot to tell it which door they wanted opened.

The soft click of booted feet was coming closer. She could hear them talking nervously about the power failure. The last time there’d been a major power failure, Anna had escaped. However a failsafe had kicked in putting the facility in lockdown mode. They thought it was some new measure by Dr. Blackwell. The first one never saw Amy coming. She had him down, and had rolled out of the reach of the other before he could even bring his cattle prod like device to bear. It crackled menacingly with electricity. Amy twisted her mouth into a grimace. Why did they always have to travel in pairs? The guard was ordering her to stand down, or something. Like that was going to happen. Amy glanced left and right. She didn’t have room to move like her style of martial art preferred in these narrow hallways. Now he was calling for backup. Just fugging great, she’d been in here barely five minutes and she’d already alerted the whole damn facility.

Apparently she wasn’t the only one. She could hear muffled reports of attacks on floors four and five and something about the elevator not working. At least the bot had given them that much though bring trapped with these guys wasn’t exactly ideal either. He looked distracted, so Amy made a lunge for his shoulder. There were holes in the armor plates at most of the major joints so the guards had maximum maneuverability. For the most part, the kids couldn’t make focused strikes at joints. And even if they could the armors supposedly had shields that prevented any physical or otherwise strikes from doing any harm. However they weren’t protected from tasers. The cattle prods only worked when they were in contact with the palms of the gloves, and the telekinetics couldn’t force the guards to taser themselves. The armor somehow stopped that too.

Amy missed her target as the guard stumbled backward, thrown off by her attack. She at least didn’t get hit with that damn stick of his. She quickly swung around and planted the taser into the back of his neck, and the guard slumped down in a heap. Two down, two hundred to go, or so it seemed. Amy sprinted down the hallway. No need to be sneaky now. Oh sure in the movies the heroines always planted themselves up on the ceiling supported by their palms and feet then the guards came and then either dropped on their heads or waited for them to pass. Not only was she not a ninja, she, and most of the heroines who did that sort of thing, simply didn’t have the body strength to hold their body weight in a position like that.

Anna’s room wasn’t hard to find. Politeness wasn’t a luxury she had right now. Anna would have to forgive her for barging in. She quickly slid the card key and the door unlocked seconds later. She dashed inside, and the door locked behind her. Amy could hear several more pairs of guards running down the hallways searching for the intruder. Escaping with or without Anna was not going to be easy. Amy was regretting their decision to split up.

The room was the size of a small studio. There was a kitchenette and a bathroom, aside from the main room. It didn’t take her long to figure out Anna wasn’t here. “Mouse she’s on your floor”. There was a brief muttering of something unintelligible from Vicki. Mouse didn’t reply. Something had happened to her.

Shortly after letting Amy out the elevator dinged the fourth floor stop. “Good luck, Vicki” Mouse offered cheerfully as she slid out the door. Vicki didn’t answer. Mouse wondered what had gotten into Vicki. She’d been silent and cold since they began the mission. Vicki was usually a hotheaded smart-ass. She didn’t have time to worry about it now. Keeping to the shadows in the dim hallway, Mouse picked her way down the corridor. The auxiliary lighting was casting a few beams down, feebly penetrating the darkness. The way they were spaced out, they would be easy to avoid. Mouse wondered what was wrong with Amy tonight. Mouse had dressed in her old work clothes. A tight fitting top and pants, with a harness and belt with a multitude of pouches, Amy was dressed like she was on a date, and Vicki was in her usual garb. Mouse expected it from Vicki. Amy was supposed to be better than that.

But this too was something she didn’t have the time to worry about. Amy would have to take care of herself. Guards were coming. Mouse was not a fighter herself. She set down a pair of mouse bots. These had been designed to release a knockout gas. According to Maxwell, there were several amusing design flaws of Vivian’s they could expose. Like the helmets didn’t have air filtration units. Why would she need them? Her psychics didn’t have access to gas based attacks. The first two guards went down easy. Mouse hadn’t noticed the second pair coming around from the hallway to her left. She was so absorbed in taking out the two, she barely had time to scream from the pain as the cattle prod was jammed into her back and the blackness took over.

Vicki walked down the fifth floor hallway with an unheard of nerve and confidence. Her heels clicked on the metal floors. The two guards before her weren’t sure if they should run or attack. They decided on attack given they were protected from anything she could do. This woman was either full of herself, or crazy, maybe both. They weren’t real sure how she’d gotten this far into the facility, but she wasn’t going any further. The elevator was supposed to shut down in this situations, it was another of Dr. Blackwell’s new fail safes. The first guard received a taser to the midsection, just below the waist, as Vicki ducked and rolled under the other’s attempt to hit her with the cattle prod.

The one going down had clipped her left arm as he fell. Vicki winced as her arm went numb. It may as well be a limp noodle for all the good it was doing her. There was a lot of yelling coming through the helmets. Attacks were reported on the other floors. Sounds like Mouse and Amy were doing their jobs. Vicki planted a kick into the guard’s chest, and pushed with the full force of it. The guard stood there. Damn, when Maxwell said they could withstand telekinetic attacks she didn’t realize the jerks couldn’t be toppled either. She barely yanked her leg back in time to avoid having the prod jammed into it. She counted herself lucky he wasn’t smart enough to just grab her leg. Rolling past him had turned back was to the elevator, which meant she had the room to run. At least as far as Alex’s room. To the guard’s surprise she did just that. His stun rod bounced ineffectively off the door as it slammed shut seconds after Vicki had dived into the room.

Sarah looked up from the book she was reading as some strangely dressed woman jumped into her room. She heard the ting of a stun rod hitting the door outside moments after. It only took her a moment to recover from the oddity of the situation. “Miss, I’m going to assume you’re the Ms Reynolds I’ve heard so much about. It’s rude to wear shoes in the house.” She stood. “I’ll get Alex for you. I’m sure she’ll be excited to see you.”

This took Vicki off guard for a moment. This girl had probably seen several situations like this, most likely during escape attempts. A breakout might be new but nothing particularly unexpected and certainly no reason for her to be alarmed. Vicki also noticed that despite the rest of the facility being running on minimal power, this room looked as if there was no power shortage at all. Was that Mouse’s robot’s doing or had Vivian lost all sense of priorities in a crisis? She assumed the former, Vivian couldn’t be that stupid. “Alex, Ms. Reynolds is here for you.” Sarah announced in a calm, quiet voice. Vicki had to give the girl some respect. She wasn’t phased easily.

Alex seemed to bounce out of a room in the back and practically tackled Vicki as she wrapped her arms around the detective. “Vicki! I’ve missed you so much! But what are you doing here?” Vicki blinked. This was Alex? She was bouncing? And jumping on people? She’d never seen Alex so vibrant and full of life. “Alex, it’s time to go.”

Alex shook her head. “I’m sorry, Vicki. It’s great to see you and all. I’m not even real sure I want to know how you got in here. But I’m happy here. I don’t want to leave.” The other girl came out of the same room Alex had just emerged from with a victorious smirk on her face. Vicki got a good look at her now. She was about Alex’s size, an Asian, guessing by the decoration style of the room, Japanese. “Alex, we went to a lot of trouble to get you out of here. I don’t know what this girl did to you. But Vivian is trouble.” She grabbed Alex’s wrist and turned towards the door ready to yank Alex behind her if she didn’t come willingly. Vicki cursed her left arm being useless. Alex was becoming frightened. “Vicki, that hurts. Let go!”

Sarah smirked at Vicki. “It looks like they clipped you Ms. Reynolds. You’ll have use of your arm within about an hour. On the good side, you could probably wait it out safely here.” Alex squirmed out of Vicki’s grasp and backed up quickly towards Sarah. “I’m not leaving, Vicki. Especially not like this.” She protested once she was safely out of Vicki’s range.

As Alex bumped into Sarah, the Asian girl draped her arms over Alex’s shoulders, and rested her head next to Alex’s. “I didn’t do anything to her.’. Sarah waved her hand. “She had everything she could want here, quiet seclusion, companionship, and a comfortable place to live. While it was certainly within my power to force her into such a state, she would be a lustful beast if I had to do that. As you can clearly see, she is doing this of her own choice. I’m sure you know the extent of her powers. She wouldn’t be coerced by telepathy or post hypnotic suggestions. Her mind is too strong for that. It might even be too strong for my power if she willed it so.”

This wasn’t going well. If Vicki waited here for an hour, the other guard would be up and they’d both be ready for her, and Alex fighting her the entire way wasn’t going to make this go any smoother. She spoke into her headset. “Mouse, Amy, What’s your position?”

Alex perked up, momentarily forgetting that Vicki was acting strangely. “Mouse is here too?” She hadn’t seen Mouse in a while, not since their fight, when Vicki had taken Mouse with her on a mission, and then returned alone with the simple explanation that Mouse needed space and could take care of herself. After that Alex had mostly locked herself in her room in a fit of self-pity. A girl’s voice she didn’t recognize came across the headset. That must be Amy.

Vicki frowned at whatever was said. “Mouse? What about you?” Alex became worried, and pulled away from Sarah. “Vicki, where’s Mouse?” Vicki shook her head. “There’s no answer. Something has to have happened. Amy’s on her way here. We’ll have to make a new game plan.” She sighed “These halls were too narrow for us to stay together and expect to reasonably fight, but Mouse isn’t a fighter. She’s a thinker Problem is, she gets absorbed in what she’s doing, and she’s rusty. She’s not actually broken into any place since she stopped doing freelance. We shouldn’t have left her alone.” Rubbing at her numb arm Vicki frowned. “And these guys aren’t exactly anything like she’s ever faced.” She mumbled ‘or any of us’, under her breath.

Making her way carefully back over to Vicki, Alex wondered why she was doing something this profoundly stupid. The detective’s eyes were cold and unforgiving, and frightening. It was nothing like the Vicki she knew. But Vicki was her friend. Maybe she was just agitated with the situation, and the compassionate healer in Alex wouldn’t let her friend stay hurt. “I can fix your arm.” Alex offered timidly.

Vicki blinked. Alex hadn’t been timid like this around since they’d first met. Two minutes ago she practically tackled Vicki because Alex was overjoyed to see her. Now Alex was terrified. Vicki looked accusingly at Sarah. “If you must know, look in a mirror Ms. Reynolds. Other than the way you are dressed, I wouldn’t have guessed you were the person Alex told me so much about either. She said too many good things for you to be that woman. Though I couldn’t imagine too many people dressed that way would barge into my room looking for Alex.” Sarah disappeared back into the room she’d called Alex from, after a look that said without words how disgusted she was with Vicki..

A gentle touch, and a warming sensation later, and Vicki’s arm was perfect. Alex quickly scampered away from Vicki after she’d finished. Vicki was about to say something about this not being the time for games, when she heard something slump against the door. She turned in time to see Amy pushing the guard out of the doorway with her foot. “Sheesh these guys are heavy.” Amy turned and looked around. She removed her flats before stepping inside. “We’ve got trouble, Vicki. I still can’t raise Mouse on the headset.” She glanced over at Alex who was slowly backing into a room. “Sheesh, Vic-zilla. Scaring the natives? Maybe you should try your atomic laser breath to finish her off. Your eyebeams of death haven’t quite succeeded yet.” Vicki didn’t look the least bit amused.

Rolling her eyes, Amy walked over towards the cowering girl and kneeled down in front of her. “You must be Alex. I’m Amy. I trained that scary beast over there.” She turned and shot Vicki a nasty look “But not to be that.” Vicki blatantly ignored her and looked at the door. “Get Alex and let’s go. Mouse needs us. They can’t have left the fourth floor so she has to still be there.” Amy shook her head and mumbled something along the lines of affirmative, captain grumpy. She caught Alex’s gaze. “We have to go, Alex. We’re not going to get another chance like this.” Alex shook her head.

Looking up, Amy saw a Japanese girl appear in the doorway. “I believe she has made her choice, Miss. If you would please leave my house, now, I would appreciate it. Your other friend needs you.” Amy sighed. “We can’t force her…” She stopped mid-sentence. She didn’t even have to look to see the horrible blazing aura around Vicki. She could feel it bearing down on her. Amy felt like a deer in front of the headlights of a Mack truck. “I don’t really care who you are, or how you’ve tricked Alex into believing she’s happy. But we will leave here with her.” Alex shook her head frantically. Amy stood up and whirled. “Look Vicki, we don’t have time for whatever this nonsense is. I thought I’d broken you out of it.” She motioned between Vicki and Alex as she spoke “You’re scaring the hell out of your friend. Hell you’re scaring, me, Vicki. Get over your damn self…. And what are you doing, Vicki?”

Vicki had started down the hallway. She shoved violently past Amy, and before any of them could act, Vicki jammed the taser into Alex’s side. “I came to see her out of here, Amy. I’m going to see it through, with or without her cooperation.”

Steam could have come out of her ears, Amy was so mad. She slapped Vicki across the face. “How could you do that to her?” Amy shook her head. She didn’t have time to stand here and lecture Vicki right now. Mouse needed them. “Mouse doesn’t have time for your stupid shit, Vicki. I’m going to help her. You do… whatever. But if you care about her, or Alex, I would be right behind me if I were you.” Amy stormed out and left Vicki with Alex and Sarah. “Will you stab the taser into me too, if I try to stop you, Ms. Reynolds? Has the objective blinded you so much that you’ve given up feelings for the girl you called your friend? Look at yourself and what you’ve done.” Vicki stood up straight and looked Sarah dead in the eye. “Do I have to, or are you going to let me leave and spare me the trouble and yourself the discomfort?”

Just because she was Asian, didn’t mean she knew how to fight, and Sarah doubted she could bluff, this, monster. “You said, Dr. Blackwell, or as you called her, Vivian, at least that’s who I presume you mean, is bad news. And she is. She terrifies me to the core. I faced her down for Alex. I’ll face you as well.” Vicki shrugged. “Suit yourself.” With that Vicki jammed the taser into Sarah’s ribcage. She picked up Alex like a sack of potatoes and slung her over a shoulder. Vicki’s cheek still stung from where Amy slapped her. Maybe Amy was right. Maybe she had turned into a monster. But at least this monster was going to get out with its quarry. Mouse and Amy would have to take care of themselves. She couldn’t risk any harm coming to Alex.

Maxwell popped into Vivian’s office about five minutes after the chaos had started. “Vivian, Vivian, Vivian. You’ve got a crisis on your hands.” This was the last thing she needed, that jackass. “Is there something you want, aside from annoying me, Maxwell? I’m very busy right now.” Vivian yelled into the phone in her hand. “What do you mean you can’t get the security back up and running, Scott?” She looked up and glared at Maxwell. “No, I think I know what the problem is, or rather who. Do what you can.” Her voice was ice cold. She put down the receiver. “You engineered this.” She accused.

Putting his hands up defensively, Maxwell smirked “Oh now don’t look at me, Vivian. You know very well that I couldn’t act against you. Besides, if I were masterminding it, would I be sitting on your desk right now?” Vivian narrowed her eyes. “That is a Marcus answer, Maxwell. So I’m going to go with, a yes. You riled those little bitches of yours into this didn’t you?” Maxwell laughed. “Now Vivian, we both know I wouldn’t have to goad them into anything. Vicki and Amy hate me, remember? I didn’t even disable your facility, Vivian. I can assure you, none of my tech was used in this little assault on your building nor did I plan any of this.” A crackling voice came across the intercom on her desk. “Dr. Blackwell, we’ve captured one of them. But we can’t get off the fourth floor. The failsafe won’t allow the elevator to move.”

This was the last straw. “What did you do Maxwell?” her voice screeched, and her mind began to tear at his. Maxwell wasn’t prepared for the assault and fell to his knees, grasping his head, in intense pain. “Tell me, or I’ll rip it from your mind!” She’d caught him by surprise, and was taking no prisoners. She ripped through his mind, destroying anything in her path until she found what she was looking for. He’d provided schematics, information, and weaknesses. He also knew of an AI that was currently controlling her building, Mouse’s AI. She didn’t know how it got in here, but she would get it out. She left Maxwell twitching on the floor in a puddle of his own drool. He wasn’t dead but he wouldn’t be giving her any more trouble. He barely had the mental capacity left to even perform the necessary functions to stay alive. She had wanted to do that to him for years. Revenge was sweet, and now she would tend to those little troublemakers personally.

Picking up the phone she got in touch with Scott again. He’d apparently already tried to override the AI. Because it was ‘intelligent’ he couldn’t control it like a simple machine. It had also threatened to shut down circulation of air in the building if he made any moves against it. Scott was powerless, and this little beast of Mouse’s could be anywhere. It was the second time in her career when she had regretted building her facility underground. The air vents piping in fresh air was its only vulnerability. Twice that had been used against her. Both times Scott was somehow involved. She could look into that later, there were more important matters at hand.

Those little tramps were after Alex. Well they were going to get a rude surprise. Vivian opened a small wooden box on her desk. Inside its velvet interior laid a key. With it she unlocked a desk drawer, and pulled out a small revolver. She never thought she’d have to use thing again. Marcus built it for her, so many years ago before he turned on her. It wouldn’t miss, as long as she could see her target. The bullet would always strike a killing blow. However it only had three shots left of the original six.

Marcus was probably enraged when she used it on Sharon. The accident hadn’t killed her like most people thought. It wasn’t designed to. Vivian wanted that pleasure for herself. Marcus was forced to cover up the incident. It had been one part of her revenge. If Vivian couldn’t keep Alex for herself, then Alex would just have to die. As would that sentinel of Marcus’s. Reynolds probably hadn’t even seen it coming. Once the spell on the guns had been broken, a second spell took effect. Layered magicks were always a favorite of Marcus’s. She would slowly lose herself. Her only objective would be to protect Alex, even if Alex didn’t want to be protected. It also meant that Vicki Reynolds was at the height of her strength, and closest to her death. Vivian would just have to hasten the process. She snatched Maxwell’s teleporter, and whispered in his ear “See you’re helping me again like a good boy, Maxwell. I could almost get to like you now.” She pressed the button and disappeared in a flash of light.

Vicki walked out of the elevator, and into the abandoned store front. In front of her, she saw Vivian. All she knew was that Vivian was in her way. Things in her way were to be moved or killed. She dropped Alex, and then ran, full tilt at Vivian. Vivian pointed her revolver at Vicki, and fired twice. She watched the shell of Vicki Reynolds fall to the ground. It was such a waste of such a great mind. Vivian only had one bullet left and multiple targets. Marcus had planned that too. It would take two shots to take down his monster, but since Vicki had no mind left to destroy, Vivian couldn’t use her greatest weapon. She would be forced to use the gun, or try to fight off a super human the size of a small woman.

She’d seen him use one before, he’d fired six shots into it with a .45 and it kept on coming. He’d pulled out a gun similar to Vivian’s, and shot it twice more before it fell. It was a demonstration of how effective his new sentinels were. They had the strength of twenty men, were completely immune to any mental manipulations, and they didn’t feel pain. Even his magic bullets, stolen from the original design used on Kennedy, and vastly improved couldn’t stop it in one shot. She walked over and dragged the unconscious Alex outside the doorway. Vivian picked her up and put the gun to the unconscious girl’s head. She would need one more thing before she began the waiting. Was this part of your plan too, Marcus or have I finally outsmarted you?

Amy quickly dispatched the guards who were fussing over the unconscious Mouse. They had been roo busy restraining her, since they couldn’t think of much else to do with her. They hadn’t even seen her coming. Their only warning was the ding of the elevator. Cursing Mouse, she began to drag the unconscious girl down the hallway. Mouse was heavy. and there were likely more guards coming. Amy wouldn’t want to be Mouse tomorrow, she was probably going to be severely banged up. Amy covered her mouth and nose as she quickly darted through a small purple cloud that two silver mouse robots were emitting, nearly stumbling over the obscured guards lying in the floor. Mouse must have been ambushed after taking them out. Amy barely got out of there without inhaling too much gas. Still she felt woozy.

“Umm… Mousebot… thing? Can you hear me?” An unfamiliar voice answered. “It can but it can’t talk to you. I can answer for it. You want the next door down. Before you ask, my name is Scott. I’ve been watching everything. It’s my talent. I gave it a lot of thought. Anna needs to live her own life, outside of this place. She’ll be with her friend, Alan. He’s harmless. Take him with you. It’ll be easier than arguing with him. You dispatched the last of the guards on your level by the way.”

None of that, except next door down, made sense but Amy went along with it. Then again, nothing about this entire caper had made sense. Amy used the cardkey on the indicated room, and practically fell inside with Mouse. Alan frowned as Amy stumbled into the room. “You must be the ones Scott told me to expect.” He shook his head at Mouse. “Anna’s in no condition to fix her, or you. She’s already had to absorb three stun rod wounds and a training session” Amy was about to ask why she’d have to heal a training session, and then she considered what she’d been told about Vivian. “Ok. Then I’m open to suggestions. I’ve got an unconscious thief, and a crazy detective dragging Alex out of here as we speak, and a cloud of purple gas that I probably breathed too much of between us and elevator. Can she at least walk on her own?” Amy waved towards the open door to a darkened room that Alan had come out of.

Alan nodded. “She should. She’s just sleeping off the injuries. I’ll talk her out of healing your friend there. I can carry her.” He looked up into the air. “Julie, can you look ahead for me and see if we’re clear?” Amy blinked. “Umm…” Alan smiled at her confusion “I can talk to spirits. They do excellent recon.” Why not? Nothing else tonight had made sense. Why shouldn’t there be ghosts? Amy fell into a chair. She was dizzy, this night had been too screwed up, and she wasn’t asking any more questions. The answers made no sense.

It took a moment for Alan to return. “Well, Anna will be alright to walk, but we’ve got another problem. Dr. Blackwell is waiting for us and she’s got Lexi as a hostage. Apparently she had Jennifer too.” Amy closed her eyes. That meant Vicki was dead. Amy wasn’t certain she wanted to know who Jennifer was, but she was certain she wasn’t going to like it.

There was no way that Vicki would let herself be knocked unconscious, especially not in the state Amy last saw her in. Her hand still stung from slapping Vicki, it was like her face was made of metal. She barely even heard Alan say that Vicki was dead, or that he was sorry. She wiped at her eyes. Mourning Vicki could come later, when the rest of them were out of here safely. Before Alan could stop her, Anna was kneeling over Mouse. “Anna! You promised me you wouldn’t!” Mouse blinked and opened her eyes to see a blurry form hovering over her. “Damn it. I lost my contacts.”

Patting her belt, Mouse quickly found the pouch where she kept her glasses. She put them on to see Anna smiling down at her. “See? I didn’t pass out this time.” Mouse blinked “Did you at least get the plates on that Mack truck that ran me down?” Alan gently nudged Anna aside and helped Mouse up. “Fine, Anna, I concede that you know the limits of your power better than I do.” Anna rolled her eyes. “I don’t have to take all of it you know. I just usually do. I got her back to consciousness, and some form to move in without rendering myself helpless, happy now?” Amy shook her head. No wonder Vicki went nuts. She had to deal with a bunch of teenagers with crazy powers.

“Look as fun and logic defying as all of this is,” Amy began “We still have the problem of a madwoman with a gun to Alex’s head. And what’s a Jennifer anyway?” She looked at Alan to make sure she was right. Alan nodded quickly and explained who Jennifer was. Amy didn’t like the answer but it didn’t really change much. It just added to the list of things she wished Maxwell had told her in the first place. Jennifer was one of the most powerful telekinetics Vivian had at her disposal. She was also the one who hated Vivian the most. Since Vivian needed her powers, she often restrained Jennifer with a shock collar, to keep her in line

This made no sense “How the hell is that woman getting all over creation? She was outside before Vicki was.” The voice came back over her headset. “She has Mr. Maxwell’s teleportation device. However as often as she’s just used it, it’ll have to cool down. So on the bright side, she can’t do it again for a while.” Amy frowned “Where is Maxwell anyway? I ever had a use for him now is the time.” The voice went silent for a few moments. “He’s umm… Well I’ll just be direct. He’s on the floor of Dr. Blackwell’s office drooling and twitching. I think he’s alive. But, alive is a relative term for it.”

It became Mouse’s turn to tear up. Amy went and comforted the young thief. “Mouse, I know this is hard. Believe me, I know.” Amy tried to hide the pain that was leaking out of her own voice. “But right now, we need all of us on our A game. I have a plan, but it’s risky. How many bots do you have left Mouse?” Mouse pulled out her four remaining bots. “Not much, but it should be enough. Can your Mousebots climb up the air vents to the outside?” Mouse nodded. Amy smiled “Ok… This is going to require precise timing, and coordination.”

Three mouse bots snuck through the mud and patches of grass towards Vivian. Jennifer was standing next to her, the shock collar around her neck. “There’s only one exit. You kill them or I kill her, and then you.” Vivian waved the gun at Alex, then Jennifer. Suddenly huge clouds of purple smoke filled the area. Jennifer fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Vivian began to cough, but steeled her mind against the effects of the gas. Knockout gas, cute, but her game was all about the mind and she could prevent things like this from affecting hers. She probed out, seeking the group. She sensed Amy, Mouse, and two more that were fuzzier, Alan and Anna.

Alan was mostly a non-threat. His powers couldn’t affect her, nor could his spirits, so long as she didn’t go astral, which would be suicidal right now. Anna was only a threat if she got close. Mouse was groggy, still shaking off the effects of a stun rod. Mouse and Amy were circling around, but their intent was only to distract. What were they distracting her from? The gas was keeping her from just outright wrecking their minds, but she could get surface thoughts “I have Alexandra, and I will kill her. I don’t know what you are playing at, but I’d suggest stopping it now.” Vivian’s voice was cold.

There was little doubt that Vivian was not bluffing. She saw the little bot at the last second, and pushed Alex onto it. A soft thud and a jerking motion from Alex’s body, followed by her blood beginning to flow confirmed her suspicious. They’d sent in the little bot as an assassin. Vivian laughed a dark laugh. It sent chills up all of their spines. “All you accomplished was killing Alex for me. Now which of you would like to be next?” She spotted Anna through the haze. “You were the biggest failure of my entire career. It’s only fitting. You should be the one to go.” She pointed and fired.

Another form came through the haze, and got in the path of the bullet. True to its purpose, it struck home killing the target Vivian saw. Only the target had changed, and Alan slumped down to his knees. “I told you… I’d die for her.” He gasped as his hands went to the bleeding hole in his chest. Anna screamed. Amy couldn’t take any more of this. There had been too much loss of life today. Vivian was too absorbed in watching Alan fall to sense Amy coming up behind her. Amy didn’t waste time in slitting Vivian’s throat before falling victim to the gas.

Mouse pushed a button on a small remote control device to turn off the gas her bots were spewing. They were about out of it anyway. The carnage lay before them. The tiny retrofitted mouse-bot carrying a load of shrapnel like a remote control grenade had ripped Alex apart with its lethal cargo. Vivian had seen the little bot, and Mouse had activated it too early. But it was hard to see in there. She thought was behind Vivian. Mouse had killed Alex. She fell to her knees sobbing, alongside Anna, who was holding Alan’s body, cradling his head, begging him to say anything.

It didn’t take long for Amy to recover once the gas dissipated. It was only meant to render victims unconscious while they breathed the fumes. She almost immediately saw where Vicki lay dead, just off the trail. Her blood had oozed out from two bullet holes in her chest. Amy crawled over next to Vicki. “I won’t ever know what he did to you will I? I’d say I’d make him pay, but.” She looked over at Alex. “I think he already has. Besides, I always tried to teach you, revenge was never the answer. I know I did you wrong in a lot of ways Vicki. I hope you’ll forgive me now that you’re a spirit. I hope you’ve found the peace that being forced back to life never brought you.”

Amy pulled herself up and then made her way over to Jennifer. She unlocked the collar that Vivian had put around her neck, just as the girl began to stir. “Welcome back to the land of the living. I’m Amy.” Jennifer blinked looking at all the corpses, and then fainted. “And she’s off.” Amy sighed. Humor wasn’t going to solve this problem, but it was the only thing keeping her sane right now. “Scott, what’s going to happen here? These kids can’t survive here by themselves.”

The reply came swiftly. “The Company is already sending agents to this location. Your little bot friend will be pulling up in a van it’s controlling shortly. Load everyone in and get out. As much as I hate to say it, leave the bodies of your friends. You don’t have time to get them out.” Amy sighed deeply then took the headset off and threw it as far as she could into the swamp. She didn’t want to hear anymore of this bad news. The van came swiftly, and she ushered the girls inside. The shrapnel mouse had been a gamble and a last minute one at that, but it was the only way they were going to get in close to Vivian to kill her. Mouse had assured Amy it would only hit Vivian so long as it was behind her. That mistake had cost them Alex and Alan. Would it have really been better just to leave things be? So many lives were lost and so little was accomplished.

Sarah sat with Scott as he watched on his monitor the van driving off. If anyone could unlock their own door, it was Scott. She’d only faked the taser hit. She’d put some protective padding on her torso while Vicki had been threatening Alex. The detective was too blinded with her objective to even notice, or really care. Scott had let her out of her room and down to his shortly after Amy had exited the building. The AI saw no harm in allowing this. “You promised me she’d be safe, Scott. Now where is she?”

Scott sighed. “You know with only an hour’s notice, it was hard to pull that off. That technology was insane, and if it hadn’t of been for that little AI robot, I couldn’t have done it.” He pointed to his bedroom. “She’s sleeping in there. You owe me, big time for this Sarah. If The Company ever finds out I made that clone, you’re going down with me.” She wasn’t in the mood for this right now. She’d just seen her love die. Well, a clone of her love, and that was heartbreaking enough. “It’s going to dissolve in a moment anyway isn’t it?” Scott didn’t answer. They both knew the answer to that. “Take her and get out Sarah. I have to assume control before The Company can mess anything up.”

It couldn’t have gone better if he planned it himself. Dr. Blackwell was dead, and now Scott could make the bid to take over. Things would change here. For the better, he already had buyers lined up. Something Dr. Blackwell could never do. Then again, no one in their right minds would have listened to her anyway, especially not with what the clients were hearing her say. That woman was entirely too stupid to even realize that Scott could alter her transmissions from here. Then again, why would she ever suspect him of plotting her downfall in the first place?

Sarah was a smart girl. She’d figured that Alex’s friends would come for her, and saw two opportunities. One was to keep Alexandra for herself. That he didn’t really care about. The other was to make her own grab. Scott saw potential, and now he had something to hold over Sarah and was owed a favor, but he could share. She would be the perfect spokeswoman, and VP of Sales. She could close deals with anyone. The buyers wouldn’t have to worry about his psychics leaking information back to him. He didn’t need leaks for information he had anyway. And this way, she could be the face of the facility, while he was the brains.

Epilogue

Three years had passed. Scott and Sarah had made the formerly weakest division of the company, easily the most profitable, and all they did was hiring out their psychics. Once they were trained, the ones over eighteen were free to come and go, so long as they remembered the debt they owed to the company. Once that was paid off, they would be paid well for their services and that was only a portion of the profits. It worked like a charm. The psychics wanted to make good money, and for relatively easy jobs most of the time. Scott wasn’t picky about who he hired out to, so long as they came through with the money. He could always blackmail them if they tried to pull anything stupid, or make The Company look bad.

Alex and Sarah were still very happy together. Sarah had always known hiding Alex away from even Vivian, was the perfect ploy. Who said that she couldn’t cook up her own evil master plans? Alex certainly wasn’t complaining. They both had their creature comforts they’d grown to love, and Alex had a loving girlfriend, and could disappear into seclusion especially since everyone thought she was dead. It was an ideal set-up for her. She could start a new life, travel around with Sarah when the mood struck her. Alex’s life was hers alone for the first time in her life and she could choose who she wanted to share it with. Of course, she had chosen Sarah.

Most of the escaped psychics came back once Scott was in control. The brutal ways of Vivian had been replaced with a much friendlier way of doing things. Performance and obedience were still rewarded, but failure didn’t get one tortured to near death. Anna was one of the few that hadn’t come back. But her services weren’t as needed anymore. Rebecca had been sold, permanently to some weird outfit in China. They used her to heal up torture victims. Scott had sold her for a significant price, and now she was someone else’s problem. The other violent and otherwise uncontrollable psychics tended to meet a similar fate. Some people deserved to reap the rewards of their actions.

Amy took care of Anna and Jennifer for a while. Jennifer went back to the facility. She had trouble controlling her powers, and felt safer there now that she wouldn’t be treated like someone’s pet. Anna stayed with Amy for a few years, learning the ways of the world. Amy redeemed herself to Vicki, by not taking advantage of this fledgling. Besides, after losing Alan, Anna would have to learn to find love on her own. She’d felt loss over someone she cared deeply about. It was a start on the path, if a bumpy one. She just hoped Anna wouldn’t close herself off. Losing loved ones hurt, and having never felt the good side of love, Amy was afraid the younger woman never would.

Mouse disappeared, again. Occasionally there would be word of her robbing some priceless something or the other, but it was rare. Amy wondered if Mouse was still inventing, or with the death of Alex she’d lost all passion for it. Amy told her about the cloning technology, and Mouse had only shaken her head. She couldn’t unleash something like that on the world, even if it got her Maxwell and Alex back. Anna had agreed. She wanted Alan and Alex back, but it wasn’t worth the repercussions.

They had gotten Maxwell back from Scott almost a year later. Scott was tired of taking care of him and The Company had finally allowed him to release that burden after it was deemed that repairing Maxwell’s mind simply wasn’t worth the manpower and resources they would have to invest. It only took them three years to come to that conclusion.

. Anna managed to repair the damage but it took her over a month to recover and it was only through Maxwell’s powers that she did at all. Maxwell disappeared shortly after seeing Anna recovered, presumably to wherever Mouse was. She was told never to use her powers to repair anyone’s mind again. She might not recover next time. The damage she’d done to herself curing Maxwell had weakened that part of her regenerative properties too weak to be of much use. She needed to slow down on her healing power as well. Her body had taken way too much abuse. It was taking her longer and longer to recover. If Anna didn’t let it rest, she might lose that part of her forever. Anna didn’t use the power again in the time she lived with Amy. Once Anna left for college, Amy wasn’t sure, but she hoped Anna took care of herself.

Maxwell made an appearance again shortly after Anna started applying to medical schools. He had gotten her into one of the top schools in the country. They were willing to try new and alternative forms of healing. Some of the professors were very excited about having someone both as knowledgeable and talented, even without her powers, as Anna was. Her powers were icing on the cake. He also offered Amy a job as an investigative reporter. Amy hadn’t felt like restarting PI work since Vicki was gone. While this was practically the same thing, it also meant not sitting outside a house watching to see if his wife was just jealous or justified in believing her husband was cheating on her.

The cloning device was destroyed, and the plans burnt. Scott wasn’t risking a return of Dr. Blackwell. The Company would just have to suffer that loss. The machine, of course, was the loss, they were just as happy to be rid of Dr. Blackwell. She was a nuisance. The cloning device was an acceptable loss. It could be replaced, given time and money. Another could be designed, especially with Mouse still running around out there, as well as word of Maxwell’s recovery.

Julie stayed by Alan’s side in the spirit realm. It took him a long time to recover from losing Anna. He watched in silence many a night as she carried on with life. She had mourned him, but as a lost friend. He stayed by her side through that first lonely year of college, and Julie stayed patiently beside him. As time passed, Julie got her wish and Alan admitted what he knew all along. He was in love with the ghost girl. She had always been an obtainable goal, if all he sought was love. Really, she had been there for him more than Anna ever had and even in the last few years had been more patient with him than any woman should have. Anna was the unobtainable goal and therein had laid the attraction. Certainly he loved her, but when someone isn’t loved back, that love eventually fades away and a new one takes its place.

Setting Up The Board

By StormWhisper

Seven years had passed since that day. Amy still had nightmares about it. Vicki haunted her dreams, asking why Amy had let her die. Vicki wasn’t the only one that had died that day, just to save two lives. As she leaned back in her chair, she considered the total picture. Scott had taken over that facility and made the place so much better for the psychic kids living there. Now it was a school instead of a prison camp. If one looked at it that way, maybe it had all been worth it.

Still, Amy wondered what became of Mouse. She’d heard from Maxwell since then, mostly to tell her what had happened, and to assure her that Mouse was doing well. Later he offered Amy a job, when she was trying to find a direction in her life. A good job, one she enjoyed.

After Vicki had died, she had lost her interest in being a private detective. Taking care of Anna and Jennifer had been her life. Jennifer went back to Scott’s school. She always walked on eggshells worrying that her power would kill all of them. Anna went to college, which Maxwell was paying for. Probably his way of atoning for all the suffering he’d let her endure.

An investigative reporter, it was a lot like being a private detective, really, when one thought about it. The main difference is she got respected for doing the same thing she did in the first place. The police by and large still hated her, though she’d managed to get a few contacts. Men were so easy to manipulate, especially when you had a nice body.

Amy should be closing on her forties by now. But she still looked like she was twenty-five. Was it some sort of side effect of the cloning process? As she thought about it, if someone were going to bother to clone themselves, why become a wrinkled old prune again. There was the realistic factor, but really if you were going to effectively become immortal, why bother aging?

Men seemed to find Amy irresistible. Her hair was a dark silky brown, and her eyes a dark green. Men seemed to like to compare them to emeralds. It was the worst pick-up line she’d heard since ‘What’s your sign?’ Still she had to appreciate what the body of a twenty-five year old could get her. Amy wasn’t above toying with men to get what she wanted. Sleeping with them was, distasteful, but if she must. Her only love had been Vicki, and even then, she’d ruined that beyond belief.

Glancing at the clock, Amy wondered why she was so tired. It had been a long day at work. An expose on some politician, and his goons loved her for getting anywhere near him. Reputations were fun. Yawning and stretching, Amy couldn’t even muster the energy to get out of the chair. It was comfy and it wasn’t the first time she’d slept in her chair.

The syllabus for this semester’s classes was insane. Anna had three term papers to write, one on anatomy. What sort of term paper could you write about bones, muscles, organs, and blood vessels anyway? Maybe she would title it “Your body is 60% water. The rest is really nasty.” Or maybe “Everything I learned about anatomy, I learned from TV medical dramas.” She doubted her professor would find either title very amusing. Anna shoved the books away from her and turned off her computer.

She stood up and looked in the mirror. She looked awful. Her honey brown hair was a mess, bags were under her grayish blue eyes, and her breasts never had filled out very much. She had envied Amy so much. Amy had a great body. Anna had something, like a lump with appendages. She sighed and fluffed her hair.

How was Amy doing these days? Last Anna had heard she had taken that job Maxwell had offered her. Maxwell was putting Anna through medical school as well. Anna’s powers could make her an amazing doctor, though Maxwell had yelled at her about that. The regeneration factor she’d enjoyed for so long was weakening. If she tried any more stunts like she had at that thing Dr. Blackwell had run, it would be gone in a few years. Maybe even to the point where she’d below even the standard human ability to regenerate.

Sometimes, Anna just had to cheat and use her power to absorb injuries into herself, just to keep in practice. Just little bits, healing a scrape, a small cut, maybe a black eye, it made her feel good. Despite the fact she had to suffer through the injuries she took on for a few hours. Some of her classmates were amazed, the rest jealous or terrified of her. Maybe she could write her thesis on her powers. She wondered if her professor would even take her seriously. Maybe she should write it as a hypothetical.

Staring at her coffeepot, Anna wondered if she shouldn’t just go to bed. Three days without sleep couldn’t be good for her. Maxwell would probably yell at her for that, assuming she even saw him. It had been a year, maybe two? But he’d fussed at Anna over everything she did to herself back then. It was college. She was supposed to torture herself. Or be tortured by her professors, maybe both. Still, sleep could give her a fresh prospective. Anna fell onto the bed and sleep took over.

A young executive walked through the hallways to her office. “The Carson’s system needs to be looked over there’s a failure on grid two.” She glanced at a woman to her right. “Steph, could you get our best engineers to check over the schematics for our new system. Something’s just not right with it.” The woman called Steph ran off to do whatever it was she was told to do. Keeping all of this straight, while she was so tired was stressful.

Passing by the secretary she spoke, her voice harried, tired. “Rebecca, hold my calls, and cancel my appointments today.” Her secretary nodded. “Of course Ms. Thompson, there’s a stockholder’s meeting tomorrow at 2.” Ugh, a stockholders meeting, a bunch of old farts would tell her how to run the company she started. Maybe they should run it instead.

Lydia fell into her chair. She missed the days when she was just a freelance now she ran her own company. She grabbed the steaming cup of herbal tea on her desk and turned her chair around to look out the window of her fifty-fourth floor office. She had to admit the view was great.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught movement of a shadow. “Why can’t you just use the door like everyone else, Dad? Now I see why Vivian always got so irritated with you.”

A short laugh from the shadow’s owner floated across the room. “Oh hush. You know you don’t care. Besides, I know you’re going to go make me face down those vultures tomorrow. So I’m entitled some perks.”

She knew it as well as he did. Lydia hated dealing with the stockholders. Giving public speeches terrified her just thinking about sitting up at that table with all those eyes staring at her, piecing her soul, made Lydia shiver. Their beady little eyes searching for the first sign of weakness so they could pounce and rip her to shreds.

The well dressed older gentleman walked around Lydia’s chair and patted her hand. “I know you hate it, but it has to be done. And since I already know you’re not going to get up there and talk to them, especially after that disaster the one time I made you do it. I thought our stock would plunge into the toilet.”

Sighing, Lydia looked up at him. “This is your game, not mine. I should be out in the field, or at least in the engineering labs. I had to practically beg to let me draw up design specs for the new security systems. I can’t run a company. It’s not what I do. I should get something for letting you call me Lydia.”

The young woman only recently started her birth name. She used to be known as Mouse, a brilliant young thief and engineer. Being eccentric, shy to a ridiculous factor, and a habit of exposing her two front teeth when she was nervous or terrified, which seemed to be most of the time, had earned Lydia the street name ‘Mouse’.

A lot of things had happened back then to push her onto the streets. An abusive mother, the death of her adoptive father, it had pushed her to run away. However once she was out there, Lydia discovered she had no means of fending for herself. That was when she turned to thievery. Once she was noticed by local crime bosses, she got ‘recruited’, at gunpoint, after actually being caught breaking into a crime bosses’ home.

He’s been impressed with her audacity, and her skills. She’d only even gotten caught because the boss had gotten the midnight munchies and slammed into her as she was headed for the back door with over a million dollars of his money. Something about the whimpering little thief reminded him of the daughter he’d lost when a rival boss thought he might run the established ring out of the city by axing the family. It had earned said boss an early retirement.

Now, she was the head of the biggest security company in the world. Her freelance work had already earned her clients. Her father, Maxwell made her become respectable. He’d told her she couldn’t get a business license as a known thief, nor under an assumed name like Mouse. She would have to use her real name, and clean herself up. No more scraggly black hair, not taking care of herself for days on end as she worked feverishly on her next device, nothing. She was going to be a respectable young woman.

Once she made it here, she realized how little of it she wanted. Who was she kidding? She hadn’t wanted it from the start. She liked being a scraggly hermit that forgot she needed to eat, on occasion. Lydia craved the days of her freedom, when she could build what she wanted, when she wanted, and if she got the urge for a little adventure, she could pull some daring heist. Maxwell had put his foot down on the heist thing and she was too busy most of the time to design anything. Meeting this, sign that, stockholders are grumpy. Stockholders were always grumpy. It was their state of being.

Maxwell looked down into his daughter’s eyes. “Look, I know you hate running the company. But give it a few more months. I can take over as your figurehead, and the name Mouse Electronics will carry the product. I mean we have some of the biggest clients in the world and our technology is always cutting edge. And some of the shadiest” He tapped his lower lip. “As long as they pay I suppose.”

She couldn’t help herself. Lydia had to giggle at Maxwell’s behavior. “Stop trying to make me feel better.” Mouse looked back out over the city. “This just isn’t me. Most people haven’t even pieced together that Lydia Thompson is Mouse. Most of them think Mouse is somewhere out there, running the company from some secret bunker somewhere. The rest just can’t prove it.” Lydia looked down at her tea “Not that the secret bunker thing doesn’t sound appealing.”

Clasping his arms behind his back, Maxwell looked out Lydia’s office window. “And deny the world such a beautiful treasure as my daughter? Look at you, Lydia, you cleaned up to be quite the woman.”

Closing her eyes, Lydia tried to put that out of her mind. What had happened to those days when her black hair was messy and grease covered any attractive features of her face? She longed just to look plain. Now her black hair was neatly styled and cut short, her glasses never had cracked lenses or were taped together, because it was too much hassle to get new ones until the lenses were practically falling out of her old ones. Maxwell had made her purchase skirt suits, and other business wear that accented her body. He told her it kept the chairmen busy thinking about something besides the budget. Lydia wished they’d think about anything but her.

“What if I didn’t want to be cleaned up? What if I was happy being Mouse?” Lydia protested.

Poking her in the shoulder, Maxwell grinned at her. “What if Mouse went broke again funding her little mouse shaped robot obsession? Not that they aren’t brilliant, sweetie, but they cost you a lot of money. Especially since you seem to enjoy blowing them up with the payloads you put in them”

Lydia looked back down into her tea. “That was… a necessary expense.” Her voice took on a melancholy tone. Seven years ago, it was one of those mouse robots that had killed her cousin and best friend, Alex. It had been a miscalculation, or maybe just bad luck. Dr. Blackwell had seen the tiny robot, just before it delivered a payload of shrapnel into its intended target, and instead shoved Alex onto the walking grenade. Lydia had never forgiven herself for that.

Kneeling in front of her and wiping at the tears starting to form in Lydia’s eyes, Maxwell tried to comfort his daughter. “That wasn’t your fault and you know it. You need to let go, Lydia. Alex wouldn’t want you to keep beating yourself up. And despite all your fussing to the contrary, you wanted this company just as much, if not more than I did.” He sighed maybe he had forced her into this. He kept trying to convince himself this was what Lydia wanted, she just didn’t know it. “It’s been a long day, and you’ve been working too hard lately. I know how stressful this kind of work is for you. Why don’t you take the afternoon off? Get some rest. I can take care of the paperwork, and I’ll handle your vultures tomorrow. You don’t even have to be there.”

It sounded like a divine idea. She could use dinner, and a nap, maybe a nap before dinner. Maybe even skip dinner and just nap. That sounded nice too. She waved at Rebecca as she left. “Dad… I mean Mr. Thompson is going to take over for me today and tomorrow, Rebecca.”

Rebecca smiled at her. “I worry about you, Lydia. You don’t seem cut out for this work.” The statement earned her a smile from her boss. Julie liked Lydia. Lydia had been the only boss she could ever have been that frank with, and not expect to be fired. Lydia even encouraged it. Rebecca wasn’t just a secretary to her boss. She was something of a friend and respected colleague.

An older woman, just into her forties, Rebecca acted more like a mother than a secretary sometimes. She would fuss over Lydia, help her pick the right outfit for those damned meetings, and even reminded her to eat. Lydia wasn’t so sure she minded that she was cared about, but all these people trying to impose their way of thinking about what she should be on her just made her more miserable.

Lydia shook her head. “Don’t let that get out, Rebecca. The vultures would be after my job.” She tried to crack another smile. Really it was only half a joke. If they sensed the weakness she felt, they’d pounce on her like the jackals they were.

Walking out to the car, Lydia noticed the sound her heels made as the clicked on the concrete floor of the parking garage. She wanted to the other employees to feel she was one of them, not above them. She didn’t use executive parking. She took her lunches in the cafeteria, when she could get up the nerve. Lydia even tried, usually unsuccessfully to mingle with her co-workers. It was partially due to her personality flaws, and partially due to being president of the company. The title scared people.

Lydia was so lost in thought she never even heard the man creeping up behind her. It was another of her many flaws. Once she got into deep thought, a herd of elephants could run by and she wouldn’t even notice. It was the engineer in her. Before she could react a hand clamped over her mouth, and a voice whispered harshly in her ear. “Move and you’re dead. Come along quietly, and you’ll survive the night.” As she was dragged to a blue car, she felt her consciousness fading. Her last waking thoughts were how she was impressed they weren’t going for the obvious black van.

Late that evening in a darkened office a phone rang. The voice that answered was obviously disguised. “Do you have all three of them?”

“Yeah.” The same gruff voice that had spoken to Lydia answered the question. “I got the executive this afternoon. The college kid just came in. She was so out of it, we didn’t even have to drug her. We got the reporter about two hours ago.” The reply was a pleased one. The voice instructed them on what to do next, and that the payment was in their accounts. The man on the phone turned to look at a slender man sitting in front of a computer. “Yeah, we got it. Good doing business with ya.”

The voice chuckled. It was always nice having professional kidnappers in one’s employ. It made gathering the pieces for his game, so much easier. The three of them had ties. Ties that ran deep, such as all three of them were haunted by one night, oh so long ago. They hadn’t seen each other in years. It would be interesting to see their reactions. Blackmailing them into playing the game would be fun too. It had cost him quite a bit to get that footage from that psychic boy’s facility. Getting the information that incident had ever even happened had cost even more. They’d tried very hard to cover it up, but Alexandra Dangor, not being seen in 5 years? That was a little much even if she was a mostly forgotten celebrity. The Reynolds detective agency had folded mysteriously with no trace of Vicki Reynolds. Those things had been what tipped him off to begin an investigation. This was going to be fun.

Groaning, Anna came to. Last she remembered she’d fallen on her bed in her dorm room and was out like a light. It was dark in her room, how long had she been asleep? She started to get up to find the light switch, when she heard a clanking. Now that she thought about it, her bed wasn’t exactly springy but it certainly wasn’t a hard metal floor. She moved again, and there was another clank. She patted herself down. Well she still had her white t-shirt and black shorts on her white ankle socks too. No shoes but she hadn’t been wearing them when she fell asleep. There was something metal and heavy around her left ankle.

A female voice drifted through the darkness. “Is someone there?”

It sounded familiar. “Amy?” Anna called out softly. She kind of felt stupid about it. The odds that it was Amy were slim. Why would she be here, wherever here was?

Lights came on, one by one. Anna and Amy shielded their eyes from the sudden brightness. They could see each other clearly now. Amy was dressed in a black mid-length sleeved sweater and jeans, with black socks. Like Anna, she was chained to the wall by a manacle around her left ankle. Anna was the first to ask the question that was on both their minds. “What are you doing here? And where is here?”

Amy shrugged she didn’t have any better idea than Anna. Her eyes fell on a third person. Judging by her expensive looking red sweater, short black skirt, black pantyhose and heels, she was some sort of business woman. Her clothing looked expensive. She was tied hand and foot, with a cloth gag in her mouth. Her black hair was cut short, but it looked good on her. She also wore glasses. The woman looked familiar, sort of like Mouse. The resemblance was certainly uncanny, but Mouse wouldn’t be caught dead looking like a business woman.

Upstairs in the control tower a figured cloaked in shadow watched the three women on monitors. They were beginning to wake up, the fun could begin. The women were confused, naturally. They had after all been taken from their homes and jobs and brought to this place. Mouse, or Lydia as she called herself now, hadn’t woken yet. That was expected. The drugs were quite potent. She would be out for a little while longer yet.

They didn’t seem to recognize their friend. She did look different enough that it was possible she just looked like Mouse. The clothes and hair were all wrong, and as far as they knew, Mouse had never worn make-up in her entire life. The two women were discussing the amazing resemblance to their mutual acquaintance. Neither of them knew Mouse very well. That would change, with time. They knew facts about her, but not the woman herself. He pulled a microphone closer to his mouth. “It is good to see you ladies are awake. We can begin the qualifying round.”

Amy and Anna looked at each other, then around the room trying to determine where the voice was coming from. Two large masked men came in and picked up the unconscious businesswoman, and took her somewhere else. “Perhaps it’s a little, clichéd, to create a damsel in distress situation. But you’ll simply have to forgive me. This is an old steel plant. It was abandoned when the company that owned it folded. However interestingly enough the equipment and building were just left to rot.”

The frowns on their faces told him the two women weren’t very amused by whatever this situation was. He hadn’t expected them to be. “The rules are simple. You have 20 minutes to save the life of the woman you just saw taken away. You may use whatever means necessary and whatever tools you happen to be carrying. Your time begins, now.”

Machinery began humming as, and the two women looked at the door the business woman had been taken through worriedly. “I don’t suppose you have those detective tools you’re always supposed to have with you, do you?” Anna asked as she looked hopefully at Amy.

Shaking her head, Amy looked down sheepishly. “Vicki would yell at me about being a hypocrite. But I was in my apartment, and half asleep anyway. I don’t usually sleep with a detective’s kit.”

It was a little much to hope for, but she had to ask. Anna wondered if she could regenerate a foot. Alex had been the escape artist. She would have been out of these bonds in half a second flat. Anna had gotten her genes from Alex’s father, who used less flexibility and more lock picking skill to perform his escapes. She twisted her foot around this way and that trying to slide her foot through the manacle. “It’s no good. I can’t get it through without breaking my foot. And that would not only be exceedingly painful. But I couldn’t recover in twenty minutes. That’s a day recovery time, at least.”

Amy nodded. She was patting herself down for any objects she might use to pick the lock. Even without her kit she usually kept a lock pick in her sleeve. “I don’t suppose you have a bobby pin or anything like that.” Anna shook her head. That too was probably too much to hope for. She twisted her foot around. There had to be a way. Much like Anna, she was not an escape artist. Amy cursed under her breath. They were losing valuable time.

The floor itself was devoid of anything useful, so Anna began checking the chain itself for weak points or maybe loose bolts in the wall. Amy took a cue from Anna and did the same. “Anything on your side?” Amy asked hopefully. Anna shook her head in response. “This is ridiculous. How are we supposed to save her if we can’t get free?” Amy yelled up into the air. There was of course no answer.

Watching the two girls scramble around frantically trying to find an answer was amusing. Perhaps too much credit had been given to Amy. She had supposedly trained the great Vicki Reynolds. She should be able to find the key he had hidden for her. If she didn’t well, then these three would be useless and could be disposed of. There would be no way to link the murders back, there had been too much care, and too much planning put into this for that.

Frustration was overtaking Amy’s mind. She had to slow down and think. Take in everything around her. What was wrong with this picture? Amy’s eyes slowly took in the room. At what she estimated to be the length of Anna’s chain, there was a panel. It was hard to spot, and had she kept her frantic fighting with her bonds she’d have never seen it. “Anna, look to your left and follow the wall as far as your chain will let you. There’s a panel. Where I’m pointing at, go open it.”

Blinking from confusion for a moment, Anna looked up at Amy, nodded, and then followed her directions. She had to search a moment then stretch to reach the panel Amy was talking about. “Sweet Jesus, you have good eyes, Amy. I would have never of seen this thing. I hope it doesn’t try to eat my hand. I can’t see in there.” A rat jumped out of its hiding place behind the and scampered across the floor. Anna jerked her hand back and screamed.

“It’s just a rat, Anna. Aside from your new furry friend, is there anything else in there?” Amy couldn’t help but smile.

Anna glared back at Amy. “It’s not funny.” Anna pawed around inside the cubbyhole hoping there wasn’t anything else alive in there. “I feel something.” She carefully grabbed the small metal object and pulled it back to her. “It’s a key, Amy!” Anna quickly tried it on her manacles. “It works!” She yelled excitedly. After tossing the key to Amy, Anna got up and dusted herself off. “How long do you think we have left?”

At first she was too busy fiddling with the key to pay much attention to Anna. “It’s not working. My key must be around here somewhere. You go help that woman.”

Amused the person upstairs continued to watch the women. Amy had performed her part. Now it was Anna’s turn. Perhaps they would learn a lesson in teamwork yet. Their teamwork had been sloppy when they tried to rescue their friends. Vicki was going to die regardless. Alexandra and Alan could have lived through it, there were at least seventeen ways they could have handled it differently, it had been poor planning from the start. Mouse was supposed to be better than that. Splitting up was foolish and arrogant. They should have known those guards were more than any one of them could reasonably handle. Especially Mouse, who knew nothing about fighting hand to hand.

Alan had been a fool, playing at a tragic and romantic hero. He could have easily just tackled Anna and knocked her to the ground. Instead he was the martyr throwing himself in front of a bullet for Anna. In the process he probably closed Anna’s heart to experiencing love forever. She might have warmed up to him in time, after she figured out how to love. Grief and guilt over losing the only person she ever came close to loving likely shocked her into fearing the idea. Well the purpose of this exercise was not to make Anna love, nor would her being able to experience that particular emotion have any relevance to the game at all.

Running into the next room, Anna immediately felt waves of heat wash over her. She could see large troughs on a conveyor belt that molten steel was being poured into. One of them likely held that woman. Anna looked further down the line. The troughs then had molds applied to them which would allow the steel to take its final shape. She shuddered to think of that poor woman’s remains ending up in one of those molds.

Anna began running down the line examining the troughs starting at the one closest to the bucket that was pouring the molten metal. This thing didn’t move very fast, but it seemed like it wouldn’t take twenty minutes to do a full rotation. No, this couldn’t be where she was, but they had definitely taken her through this door.

What would Amy do? Amy would look around, find other exits, and likely locations the woman had been taken. She wouldn’t panic, and would take everything in as quickly and thoroughly as she could. Anna tried to do the same. There was a catwalk overhead. Ok, if she followed that around, she would likely find the stairs that lead up to it. As expected, she found the stairs she was looking for. They were dusty metal stairs, but there were areas where the dust had been disturbed that looked vaguely like footprints. Amy would be proud of Anna for her detective work, even if it was beginner stuff.

Scaling the stairs, she found the catwalk split off into two directions. There wasn’t enough dust up here to determine where someone might have gone especially with the floor being grated. Holes didn’t make very good places to gather dust. Anna bit her lip and looked to her left and right. To the left the catwalk wound around the perimeter of the plant, leading into a shadowed area. To the right looked to be an office. Offices didn’t tend to be deadly, but they were easily searched, especially when one was looking for a fully grown woman.

As expected, searching the office had proven to be fruitless. But it was better to have that option exhausted, even if it had cost her precious time. Better to go to the closer location, and be wrong, than to go to the far end, and discover too late that the victim had been back where she didn’t search.

Anna darted around the catwalk like a track star. If her time in that horrible facility had done anything for her, it had kept her in great shape. Running from guards, grappling with them, it was like an exercise routine. Her slender form added to her speed. For once she was happy to have a tiny body. As Anna made her way around, she spotted a heavy looking metal door ahead. Hmm, maybe they had turned on the works so they wouldn’t hear that door close. Its weight and age wouldn’t make it open or close quietly. The door protested being opened with a screech from its rusty hinges as she struggled to even move the thing. Anna had been right about that much. It certainly wasn’t a quiet door.

Excellent, Anna was doing very well and showing much promise. Reaching down to run fingers through Lydia’s short hair, the form chortled and spoke in its modulated voice. “She’s coming for you Lydia. How long do you think it will be before she figures out your identity, hrm?” There was no response, not that one was expected from an unconscious woman. Keeping her unconscious this long was a mistake, watching Lydia’s terrified stares and her attempts to pull away from the touch would have been most enjoyable.

Still watching Anna on the monitors was pleasing. She was rushing frantically, checking each room she passed. Soon she would find this room. She would get a short glimpse of the cloaked figure, before she was slammed backwards into the wall and pinned there, helpless to watch the escape. These toys were so much fun. An energy field designed to capture people. Was this too another of Mouse’s brilliant designs? It certainly had the feel of one. It would be ideal for catching thieves in the act.

Running fingers through her soft hair again, the form looked down. “Did you design this one, Mouse? Using theoretical hard light or perhaps altering gravitational pulls, or maybe just using one’s own kinetic force against them? But it all works on the same principle doesn’t it? As long as people can be convinced it’s possible, they believe, and that belief makes it so?”

It was brilliant, but worked like all principles of magic. If the person believed, then it worked on them. If they couldn’t be convinced, or their mind couldn’t grasp the concept, it would fail. Anna’s downfall would be her intelligence. She would believe, because she’d seen too many devices that surpassed known science. Psychics of every type, people who could actually talk to the dead or create flames with their minds, even her own fantastic powers. She would probably rationalize it as being something like a telekinetic force in a box, but it would work just the same. Science in and of itself, was its own form of magic.

There was a clatter coming down the hall. Glancing at the clock told the form, Anna had three minutes and twenty-six seconds left. Once she opened the door the beam would hit her and pin her fast to the wall. As long as nothing disturbed that beam, Anna would stay there, helpless. The figure sat up and stopped playing with Lydia’s hair. It was tussled and looked like she hadn’t taken a brush to it that morning “It looks like it used to now, doesn’t it Lydia? So much for $300 haircuts.” Regrettably, Lydia couldn’t respond to his taunts.

At two minutes and fifteen seconds Anna burst through the door. A greenish light engulfed her, and Anna was painfully slammed into the wall and then unable to move. “What is this?” She grunted as she tried to free herself.

A form stood, it was cloaked in mostly black, including a hood. A hand painted mask with a menacing grin covered its face, and a modulator disguised its voice, “You know, I’m not real sure. It looks like one of Mouse’s designs. What I do know is what it does. It creates a energy beam, you would probably best understand it, in your terms. It’s a telekinetic beam that is pinning you to the wall. The batteries should run out in, ten minutes or so. Don’t worry, since you found the woman, she won’t die, this time. You will all be contacted in a few days when it’s time to play the game.”

Anna was helpless to do much but watch, as the figure casually sauntered down the hallway. It stopped. “Your next instruction packets should arrive in three days. Follow the directions, or the consequences will be most dire.”

As promised, ten minutes later, the device shut off and Anna dropped unceremoniously to the floor. She walked into the room, and took a better look at the woman. “I’d swear you were Mouse, especially with your hair messed up like that.” She began to untie the woman, taking the gag out first.

While Anna was untying her wrists, there came a soft, strained reply. “That’s because I am Mouse.”

Anna fell backwards and banged her back into a chair. She cursed at the dull throbbing and pain that was the second time her back had taken the brunt of a blow. She was going to have nasty bruises. “Mouse?” She exclaimed in disbelief. I mean when we heard of the creation of Mouse Electronics, we all knew you were involved, but… this? We figured you’d just make someone else run things and you’d be in R&D.

Now completely free of her bonds, Lydia started to sit up but the drugs made her dizzy. Anna assisted her, while resisting the urge to use her powers. Sure she could probably shrug whatever it was off in five minutes. But it was best for now just to let this woman endure her headache. Partially because she wasn’t entirely convinced this woman really was Mouse and partially because risking her powers over something so trivial was pointless. She would recover soon enough.

Lydia sighed. “Believe me. It wasn’t for a lack of trying. Dad…” She paused “Maxwell, he made me go honest. Told me doing this would be good for my character and we couldn’t do this if I didn’t exist as far as the government was concerned. If things good for my character just make me miserable, I can do without character. You’re not trying to siphon off my headache. Is something wrong, Anna?”

Well assuming she wasn’t a stooge of that mysterious person, this was definitely Mouse. She avoided the question about her powers. “Are you ok to walk?”

Pressing the issue would probably just upset Anna so Lydia let it go for now. Anna would talk about it when she was ready. There was something poking her in the ribs. “Just a second, Anna. Something’s poking me.” She slipped a hand into her pocket. She pulled out a micro cassette and a key.

Anna looked at it curiously. “What’s that?”

Looking closely Mouse frowned. “Well this obviously is a key. The other, it’s a miniature video tape. It was a failed format they came out with when they first tried to micro-size hand held cams. In their zeal they forgot VHS would only play tapes of the correct size. I’ve not seen one in years. But I do have something back at the office that can play it.”

“That must be the key to Amy’s manacles. Are you ok to walk?” Anna took the key and looked concerned at Lydia.

Lydia stepped out of her heels. “I will now that I have these infernal shoes off. Honestly, couldn’t Dad have found some ‘business shoes’ that weren’t high heels? None of the other women at the office wear them. They probably think I’m insane or trying to break my neck.” The detail about Amy clicked after complaining about uncomfortable shoes. “Amy is here too?”

There was no doubting it now, this was Mouse. Getting sidetracked easily was one of her talents. “C’mon Mouse. Let’s get you downstairs. Amy is probably worried out of her gourd. It’s been over twenty minutes.”

The relevance of twenty minutes didn’t dawn on Lydia until they’d gotten down to Amy and Anna had begun setting her free. Anna had explained they were on a timer to save Mouse’s life. If she had been down here, she could have easily slipped out of those bonds. Even these days, Mouse always carried a hidden lock pick. She wondered why Amy wasn’t. “Oh… Dad will flip if you two keep calling me Mouse. It’s Lydia now. I went back to my old name.”

Both women noted Lydia seemed far less than pleased with this development. Anna broke the silence. “Mouse, erm Lydia…” It felt weird calling her Lydia. This was Mouse. She had always been Mouse. She acted like Mouse. She had Mouse’s odd temperament of being able to go from timid little woman to irritated and angry in two seconds flat. She was Mouse damn it. Anna sighed. She’d completely forgotten what she was going to ask “Sorry, never mind, I lost my train of thought.”

The three of them walked out. Amy teased. “I never thought I’d see the day, you wearing high heels, Mouse.”

Lydia had put them back on upstairs once her dizziness had passed. Besides that grated floor would be murder on her stockings. Anna had helped Lydia keep her balance, as the stems of her heels kept trying to fall through the holes of the grating. She felt so helpless and stupid the entire time.

Just thinking about caring about her clothes made Lydia frown. She had never cared before about shredding a pair of stockings or even worn them on any sort of regular basis or really at all except for Alex. When had she cared ever cared about any of those feminine things? Was it back when she was tricked into a relationship with Alex? Dating her cousin, even if she hadn’t known it was her cousin was creepy, and Mouse had purposely avoided dating anyone, ever. Dating was for real girls and Mouse was only a girl because she was born one. She was losing her identity and she hated herself for letting it happen.

The silence that followed indicated Amy’s attempt to playfully tease Mouse had gone over like a lead balloon. She tried another angle. “You know, you’re always still Mouse to us. No matter what Maxwell makes you do. I know you can’t exactly go back to a life of crime, since it would ruin your company, but, you can still invent and test your security systems.”

Lydia nodded solemnly. “I can’t be Mouse anymore. Mouse had to die so Lydia could live. Mouse can’t run a multi-million dollar company. Only Lydia can do that.” Her answer didn’t make any of them any more at ease.

Amy’s four door ‘family car’ was sitting out in the parking lot as if she had driven herself there. She shivered a little. There was just nothing right about this situation. “Ok, that’s downright freaky. Why is my car here?”

Shrugging Anna attempted a joke of her own. “Maybe they figured without our purses we couldn’t afford a cab.”

“Not funny, Anna.” Amy said glaring half-heartedly at her younger friend. “Still, if the keys are in it, I’m not complaining, too much. It’s better than walking.”

The keys were in fact, in the car, they’d been stuffed on top of the driver’s side visor and had fallen into Amy’s lap when she checked it. “Ok, so who knows why we were all kidnapped and put through that? I refuse to believe it was coincidence.”

Shaking her head Anna confirmed it wasn’t. “The, umm… guy? Well whatever it was, he was downright spooky. So we can call him that for now.” Anna hoped the silly name would make at least amuse Amy. “Anyway Spooky said there would be packages coming to all of us in three days. Spooky also said something about the qualifying round, when we were just waking up. Oh he also gave Mouse a micro cassette. Sorry, Lydia. Lydia says she has something that can play it at her office. ”

Mouse was silent through all of this. Amy began letting her mind sort through this. “Anna, can you drive? I need to think. I’m not as bad as Mo… err Lydia back there, but it’d be best if I wasn’t thinking and driving.” Groaning at the bad joke, Anna switched seats with Amy then started the car.

The wheels of Amy’s mind were turning. Why wasn’t Mouse tested? She caught herself calling Lydia, Mouse again. Well in her thoughts Amy could call Mouse whatever she wanted. In that scenario it would have been stupid to put a professional thief down there. Mouse could have been out of her bonds in a matter of seconds. No he wanted them to rely on their individual strengths and work together and trust each other to do their parts.

At least, her and Anna, which was odd, since Mouse was the one both women barely knew as well as the planner when it came to things like that. Vicki and Alex had far more exposure to Mouse. Amy and Anna mostly knew her by brief encounters and legend, and of course, that night. There was also the fact Mouse was greatly displeased with her current life. Could she be in on this? Was this some sort of weird way of her trying to bring that excitement? It certainly was a theory that should be explored.

Right now Mouse wasn’t talking. She was depressed, and wasn’t exactly the most social person to begin with. Neither would encourage her to talk to people she’d only interacted with a few times. Anna knew her better than Amy, and even still, that wasn’t by much. It was obvious she wasn’t comfortable with them. It probably didn’t help that Amy was a joker detective type, where Vicki had been a smart mouth, and Anna was a compassionate, if a little bubbly person. Sort of like Alex, Amy had heard Alex was, without the bubbly.

Basically two people sort of, but not quite exactly like the two most important people to her that had died that day. They were all survivors of their own personal Armageddon, and that’s what brought these three women together. That too couldn’t be helping her mood. “Lydia, we’ll get through this together ok?” Amy offered comfortingly. “I know we aren’t as close, but, maybe whatever this is, will get us there. I heard a lot about you. I would like to get to know the real woman.”

Nodding politely, but noncommittally at Amy, Lydia turned to look out a window for a moment. Anna seemed to be taking them back to the office. Dad would be worried sick. She sighed internally. The woman Amy had heard so much about was gone. Now there was just this empty shell, named Lydia. Not that Mouse had ever had much inside her either.

Once Alex and Vicki had died, Mouse only had Maxwell. It’s probably why she let him get away with changing her so much. She was clinging desperately to the only other person that had meant anything to her. But she had lost herself in the process and she felt even emptier inside. It didn’t help these two were so much like Vicki and Alex. Amy was Vicki’s mentor. It made sense that she had some similarities.

Anna, well, her and Alex had both been brought up in oppressive controlling environments, and both had girls tried to fill their lives by taking care of everyone else. Anna’s power’s lead to her desire to do that, Alex learned from her mother. But Anna was her own person too. She wasn’t Alex. Not that Lydia would have wanted her to be.

Lydia’s train of thought was broken by Anna. “Hey, Lydia, where do I park?”

The idea of the parking garage frightened her right now. “Enter the code I give you into the pad. It’ll allow us into the executive parking area.” Amy made some comment about it being spiffy. Lydia would be just as happy giving her that spiffy parking spot and this entire damn company if it meant she could at least be herself, or drown her sorrows in work she enjoyed.

Maxwell greeted the three at the door of the parking garage. Security had told him about an unknown vehicle entering the executive parking area. They had the correct codes. He had told them he’d deal with it himself. “Lydia! Anna? Amy?” He rushed over to hug his daughter, who hugged back half heartedly. “Lydia, are you ok? Are you hurt?”

Twisting one side of her mouth into a half smile, Amy made more jokes. “Just her pride methinks.” Her heart wasn’t in the comment though. She had seen Mouse in action. This woman was a broken, sorry excuse for the amazing thief known as Mouse. “Our kidnappers gave us a video. I think it’s about the spa vacation we won for winning today’s round of ‘You Bet Your Ass.’ “

That earned a soft giggle from Anna, and a confused look from Maxwell. Amy couldn’t help but notice how much Maxwell coddled Lydia. She let them get a little ways ahead and whispered to Anna. “You know, he doesn’t seem that much different with Mouse than that Marcus character was with Alex.” Anna nodded in agreement. He doted on his daughter more than she heard Marcus had with Alex, but the severe control was there.

The elevator swiftly took them to the fifty-forth floor and Mouse’s office. A medium height woman, rather plain looking, in her late thirties was practically at the door when the four came in. “Lydia! Oh thank goodness you’re alright!” As Maxwell passed her and took Lydia into her office, she looked over at the other two casually dressed, somewhat dirty and shoeless girls. “And you are…?”

Before they could answer Maxwell called back “They’re old friends of Lydia’s, Rebecca. They were put through the same hell she was. Could you put on some tea for everyone?” Rebecca ran off to make the tea. Anna and Amy shrugged in unison and padded into Lydia’s office.

Amy’s eyes widened as she saw the office. It was huge. Amy thought she could fit her entire apartment in here. “Money has been good to you, Lydia. And this view, if I thought you were enjoying it, I’d be jealous.” She purposely shot a look at Maxwell, who pointedly ignored her.

There was no love lost between Amy and Maxwell. Amy had been cloned from DNA they had somehow gotten from her dead body. She didn’t even want to consider what they did to get her memories. The entire purpose was to throw Vicki off guard with the seeming resurrection of her dead mentor and former lover, so they could get Vicki out of the way while they kidnapped Alex. She hadn’t completely ruled out Maxwell as being in on it. Marcus Dangor’s plots ran deep, and that part of the plan had been Maxwell’s own disturbed trickery.

The hell he’d put Vicki and Amy through that night as part of his machinations, putting Vicki’s life on the line, knowing full well, Amy would try to save her. So she would ‘owe’ him for saving Amy’s and Vicki’s lives and get her to give up the things powering the spell that protected Alex. Amy had suspected he wanted more, but was willing to take his little victory, since Vicki was being so stubborn. Not that Amy could blame her. If someone had put her in a… she stopped. She was working, if indirectly, for someone who had at the very least lured her into the same deathtrap meant for Vicki. He did own the television station. At least the reasons for Amy’s dislike of Maxwell went something that. Still, she would never trust that man. She wouldn’t be surprised if this ‘Mouse Electronics’ was part of some new scheme.

“We might as well see the video while we’re here. The longer I stay the more worried I get about being bitten by snakes.” Amy said disgustedly

Anna caught the subtext of Amy’s comment. She was certain Maxwell did too. Anna herself had a lot of bones to pick with Maxwell. He was apparently her uncle, and had left her to rot in Dr. Blackwell’s prison for fifteen years. He knew she was there, and that she was his niece. He claimed he couldn’t do anything about it. Yet when Alex got taken, he found something to do about it. Anna was only rescued because Mouse had insisted on it. Amy had mentioned that little detail. The original plan had only included the rescue of Alex. His excuse was it was ‘riskier’ going after both of them. He was right though, and that risk had hurt a lot of people.

Rebecca came in with the tea and promptly left without a word. Amy and Anna did get a glare or two however. She didn’t seem to much care for these two new, scraggly looking women and made no effort to hide it. For all it was worth, they didn’t really care for her either.

Lydia stood, and tried to ignore the barbs Amy was throwing at her father. It wasn’t that he didn’t deserve it, it was more that she wished Amy would pick a better time. She pulled out an older model video camera and slid the tape inside. “I collected old and electronics that failed because of design, branding, or just poor advertisement. A lot of them had useful parts and came at bargain basement prices since stores wanted to get rid of them. I didn’t steal all my parts.” She explained. With the last comment she looked pointedly at Maxwell. Now Amy had her making veiled comments. “I never got around to taking all of these apart.” She hooked the camera up to her monitor and pressed play.

The same masked face Anna had mentioned popped up on the screen. The voice was deep and heavy, with a metallic tinge to it from the modulator. “If you’re watching this, you obviously got Mouse out alive. Congratulations, and welcome to the game. The rules are simple. Once a week, you’ll be given a task to complete. Succeed and you’ll be rewarded. The first game is worth $15,000. Though on the surface it might seem none of you had need for money. Two of you have superb jobs, and the other will soon enough. Perhaps she’d feel better if she paid her own tuition.”

Anna had to give the crazy person credit. He knew her well enough to know she didn’t like the idea of Maxwell paying her tuition. It meant she owed him and knowing Maxwell, he’d cash in later. If she could give him all his money back now, and then pay for her own schooling.

The voice continued. “The other two of you, would probably like your own independence. Each of you owes certain individuals something. The final game is worth 10 Million dollars. You can settle your debts, and have plenty left over.” The figure opened a suitcase, filled with money. “The game can provide all of this for you. What you will provide me will be my little secret. There will be others after the prize. You will encounter these teams frequently. Your safety will not be guaranteed if you stay in. You can choose to back out, but we still can’t guarantee your safety.”

Amy coughed. “Yeah that’s reassuring. Play to win, and if you don’t play well you die anyway. I’d say this sounds like one of Marcus’s outfits, but it’s too blunt.”

As if the person recording this had expected commentary, he had paused. “Your first assignment will arrive in three days. Round 1 will commence in 4 days after that. Once a week, the prize increases each time. The choice is yours. You’ll find a little bonus of $5000 for tonight’s escapade waiting for each of you.” The tape flicked off.

Turning back to face everyone, Amy began an analysis “Well, I think it goes without saying, whoever’s behind this has entirely too much money at their disposal. So I’m going to assume safely they’re being backed by a major corporation and/or some private investors who will find the paltry sum of 50 million or so worth whatever it is we’ll be providing. They also have good taste.” She left the last comment unexplained. It was a indirect stab at Maxwell and everyone knew it.

Considering all this Lydia turned to face the window. Her voice was timid. Amy assumed she was biting her lip as was her nervous tic. She assumed correctly. “Whoever it is, and why they’re doing it, is less important than the fact that we’re not going to get out of it.” She took a deep breath and she gained a little more confidence. “I’m taking time off until this is finished. Lydia can’t do this. Mouse has to. You’re acting CEO. If the board doesn’t like it, let them try to take the company from you, Maxwell. Knowing you, I doubt they’ll get far.”

Amy even winced at that one. If the words were barbs, Maxwell would be a very dead pincushion right now. Maxwell stood and walked to the office door. “I agree with your decision Lydia. As pleasant as having you for tea has been, Lydia and I need rest, as I suspect you two do.”

Looking at Amy, Anna grinned. “I think we’re being politely thrown out.”

Amy bit her lip. “Seems so, Lydia, you know how to find us.” She turned to Maxwell “If I still have a job, I’ll need time off as well, and Anna will have to skip a semester of college. It’s still early. I think she can withdraw from her classes without penalty.” Amy looked back as she left. She would give anything to be a fly on the wall when Maxwell addressed Mouse.

Maxwell didn’t begin immediately. He waited for the others to leave. Once they were gone he turned to face the back of Lydia’s chair. Talking to it wasn’t ideal, but she probably wouldn’t turn to face him right now. “Lydia, I know you aren’t happy…”

Lydia cut him off. “Stow it, Maxwell. This company was your dream, not mine, no matter what you tried to make me believe. Seeing Amy and Anna, even if I wasn’t as close to them as I should have been, it reminded me of how much I’ve given up. How much I’ve changed for this stupid company. While that person’s methods are sick, at least they’re giving me an outlet to be me. I have to at least thank them for that.”

Taking in a deep breath, Maxwell considered this. He knew when it was time to retreat. It seemed like his old ways come back to haunt him. Was just he just living out Marcus’s legacy? Was he too much like his brother? Both of them trying to shoehorn their daughters into lives they wanted for them, not the girls wanted for themselves. “You’re right, Lydia, and I’m sorry for what it’s worth. I’ve been acting like Marcus. I thought this company would be good for you. Rein you in a little. All it’s done is make you miserable, and make you hate me for doing it to you. It was my idea. I’ll take over everything. You’re free from it if you want to be.”

He walked to a chair and sat down. “I do think you need an outlet for your ways. Your freelance work provided that. Maybe, once this is over. We can put you in the field as a troubleshooter, and into R&D. The places you wanted to be in the first place. As for Anna, I was trying to make things up to her. Give her back the life I helped take from her. Amy, well, I doubt there’s much I can ever do to convince her that I’m not trying to manipulate her. I deserve the tongue-lashing she gave me too. I toyed with both her and Vicki, their lives and emotions. If I give you that, can I still keep my daughter, Lydia? Having a real name, a name that matches her face, that means a lot to me. ”

Wiping away the tears Lydia didn’t want her father to see, she tried to hide the fact she was crying with a steady voice. “Yeah, I think that would be ok. But you aren’t giving me anything. I could have take off at any time. I just, I didn’t want to run from this. I ran from everything my entire life. Mouse and Lydia need to come together, and make a whole person.” She felt like she was hurting him, and that made her feel awful. At least he was seeing how much he was hurting her. Once this was over, then they would heal those wounds together.

On the way home, Amy drove. Anna started the conversation. “I know you don’t like or trust him, but was that really necessary, Amy? You were a little harsh, and then you got Mouse doing it.”

Amy felt a little bad for it. He was a sleazebag, but he didn’t deserve his own daughter ripping into him like that. Amy sighed. “I know, I know. I feel bad about it, even if he did deserve some of it, but Spooky was instigating it. For some reason he wants us not to trust Maxwell. That doesn’t mean we should trust either one of them, but we should be aware of the fact he’s trying to turn us against Maxwell for whatever reasons. I see why Vicki got so irritated with all of this. Now we’re being used in someone else’s game. At least he’s straightforward enough to tell us. I suppose that counts for something.”

Leaning back in her seat and closing her eyes, Anna let her mind wander a little. “Why do you think he’s doing it? I mean Maxwell paying my tuition. Is he trying to make it up to me for 15 years of torment, or do you think maybe he’s sick enough to try to use putting me through college as some sort of leverage for another day.”

That took a moment, it was a tough question. “He’s a manipulative jerk, but I don’t think he’s wholly without heart. It’s what separates him from Marcus. He was, in a twisted way, trying to help Mouse become something more than she was, with that company. I think in the same backwards way, he’s trying to give you something to make up. He doesn’t expect you to like him. He’s being selfish by being generous, if that makes sense.”

After a quick nod, Anna turned to the window. “In its own little weird, Dangor way, it does. He’s helping me for his sake, not mine. I suppose, I should be happy he’s giving me a life I want.” It began to rain as they got close to Amy’s apartment. “Well that’s just lovely. I’m dressed in a white t-shirt and it’s raining now.” She grinned at Amy “Don’t worry. There’s not much to enjoy.”

Amy laughed softly. “You know we wear the same size clothes. I’ll let you borrow something.”

Anna pffted “All your clothes sag in the chest on me.” She gave it some thought before she began the mad dash to Amy’s apartment. “Since I’m not going to be in any classes, they’re going to make me leave the dorm.”

Turning to face Anna, Amy smiled warmly. “Your old bedroom is just as you left it you know. Probably some of your clothes you couldn’t fit in the dorm in there too. I left it like it was. Call it nostalgia. I did the same for Jennifer’s room. I guess I didn’t want to let you two go either.”

It was Anna’s turn to smile. At least Amy knew that the nestlings had to fly on their own someday. As she prepared to run through the rain, she thought about all the things they were about to go through together. Amy and Anna were already close. Anna had wanted to be close to Mouse, like Alex was, since she met her cousin. Finding out Mouse was family made her want it even more. She wondered if this ‘game’ would give her the chance to coax Mouse out of her shell.